K. Chayama et al., ANTIVIRAL EFFECT OF LYMPHOBLASTOID INTERFERON-ALPHA ON HEPATITIS-C VIRUS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS TYPE-C, Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology, 9(2), 1994, pp. 128-133
To study the antiviral effect of lymphoblastoid alpha interferon (IFN)
on hepatitis C virus (HCV) we conducted a randomized, controlled tria
l on 80 patients with chronic hepatitis C using three different doses.
Patients were randomly assigned to treatment with 1, 3 or 6 million u
nits of lymphoblastoid IFN-alpha daily for 2 weeks. To assess the anti
viral effect of IFN, the amount of HCV present in the serum was estima
ted by competitive nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) before and a
fter 2 weeks of treatment. The multiple logistic analysis was used to
evaluate factors associated with virus clearance, adjusting the imbala
nce in predictive factors among patients. Hepatitis C virus became neg
ative as assessed by nested PCR after therapy in 26, 50 and 63% of pat
ients receiving 1, 3 and 6 mega units, respectively. Hepatitis C virus
was cleared more often in patients having initially low (< 10(5)/mL)
amounts of virus. No significant decrease in the amount of virus was o
bserved in the untreated, control group. Patients without bridging fib
rosis in liver histology and with HCV genotypes other than K1 (type II
) tended to respond well. These results indicate that lymphoblastoid I
FN-alpha suppresses HCV in a dose dependent manner. Higher initial vir
us amounts, bridging fibrosis and genotype K1 were factors associated
with poor response.