INTERFERON FOR CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C IN PATIENTS CURED OF MALIGNANCY

Six patients with chronic hepatitis C who were cured of malignancy wer e treated with recombinant interferon-alpha at the dose of 4 MU/m(2) f or 12 months; the post-treatment follow up period was 12 months. Thera py was stopped within 6 months in three patients because of persistent ly abnormal alanine aminotransferase levels. In the remaining three pa tients, a complete normalization of alanine aminotransferase levels wa s obtained during treatment but it was not maintained after the end of interferon therapy. In addition, no patient cleared hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid in serum. These results suggest that recombinant int erferon is not effective in patients with chronic hepatitis C who were cured of a previous malignancy.