HIGH-LEVELS OF SERUM INTERLEUKIN-10 ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A POOR RESPONSE TO INTERFERON TREATMENT IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C

Background: It still remains unclear whether some immunologic factors affect the response to interferon treatment. We therefore examined whe ther the pretreatment levels of serum interleukin-10 and soluble inter cellular adhesion molecule-1 can be associated with the response to in terferon treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Methods: One hundred and two patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interfe ron alpha-2b were divided into three groups on the basis of patterns o f biochemical interferon response. Pretreatment levels of serum interl eukin-10 and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) typi ng was performed with a serologic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. R esults: For patients with serotype I (n = 76) the numbers of sustained , transient, and non-responders were 12 (16%), 43 (56%), and 21 (28%), respectively. In serotype-I patients the pretreatment levels of serum interleukin-10 in non-responders were significantly higher than those in sustained or transient responders, although no significant differe nces were observed in HCV RNA quantity between them. There were no sig nificant differences in the pretreatment levels of serum soluble inter cellular adhesion molecule-1 among the three groups. Conclusion: These findings suggest that high serum interleukin-10 levels may be related to a poor response to interferon treatment in serotype-I patients wit h chronic hepatitis C.