Human leucocyte interferon-alpha in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C
Aim. To assess the efficacy of different schedules of human leucocyte interferon α in chronic hepatitis C. Patients and Methods. A total of 213 naive patients with chronic hepatitis C were treated with 4 different schedules of human leucocyte interferon alpha. Sustained response was defined as persi...
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Published in | Digestive and liver disease Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 347 - 352 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Netherlands
Elsevier Ltd
01.05.2001
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Aim. To assess the efficacy of different schedules of human leucocyte interferon α in chronic hepatitis C.
Patients and Methods. A total of 213 naive patients with chronic hepatitis C were treated with 4 different schedules of human leucocyte interferon alpha. Sustained response was defined as persistently normal alanine amino transferase values with negative serum hepatitis C virus-RNA up to 12 months after therapy withdrawal.
Results. Rates of sustained response were 16% with 3 MU tiw for 6 months, 33% with 6 MU tiw for 5 months after a priming dose of 9 MU tiw for a month, 32% with 3 MU tiw for 12 months and 20% with 3 MU daily for 6 months. The major factors affecting the response rate were age and the hepatitis C virus genotype, as a sustained response was significantly higher in patients under 45 years and infected by hepatitis C virus types other than hepatitis C virus-1. Treatment was well tolerated and side-effects and drop-out events were similar to those described with other types of α-interferons.
Conclusions. Human leucocyte interferon a appears to be equivalent to recombinant interferon-α in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1590-8658 1878-3562 |
DOI: | 10.1016/S1590-8658(01)80090-6 |