TREATMENT OF CHRONIC HEPATITIS-B IN CHILDREN WITH RECOMBINANT ALPHA-INTERFERON - DIFFERENT RESPONSE ACCORDING TO AGE AT INFECTION

The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of pred ictive factors of response to treatment with interferon in children wi th chronic hepatitis B virus infection. We analyzed the influence on t he response rate of age, sex, mode of acquisition of infection, severi ty, and duration of disease in 16 children with chronic hepatitis B tr eated with 3 MU of recombinant alpha-interferon 2b three times a week for 6 months. Six months after the end of treatment, eight patients (5 0%) had cleared HBV DNA, seroconverted to anti-HBe and normalized seru m transaminase values. Response was significantly higher in those whos e serum transaminase levels were > 100 IU/liter before treatment (70%) and those infected after birth (72%) compared with those with lower s erum transaminase levels (16%) and those infected at birth (7%). Our f indings indicate that a 6 month course of low dose interferon (3 MU) i s highly effective in children with horizontally transmitted chronic h epatitis B virus infection, but noneffective in children infected at b irth.