ANTIVIRAL EFFECT OF LYMPHOBLASTOID INTERFERON-ALPHA ON HEPATITIS-C VIRUS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS TYPE-C

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.