Pegylated interferon may be considered in chronic viral hepatitis E resistant to ribavirin in kidney transplant recipients

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 1 - 522
• Main Authors: Ollivier-Hourmand, I, Lebedel, L, Lecouf, A, Allaire, M, Nguyen, T. T. N, Lier, C, Dao, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 16.07.2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Anemia; Antiviral agents; Antiviral drugs; Biological response modifiers; Blood; Blood transfusions; Care and treatment; Case Report; Fibrosis; Genotype & phenotype; Graft rejection; Guillain-Barre syndrome; Hemoglobin; Hepatitis; Hepatitis E; Human health and pathology; Immunosuppression; Immunotherapy; Infections; Infectious diseases; Interferon; Kidney transplantation; Kidney transplants; Kidneys; Life Sciences; Liver; Microbiology and Parasitology; Mutation; Organ transplant recipients; Patients; Pharmaceutical sciences; Pharmacology; Plasma; Reduction; Rejection; Ribavirin; Side effects; Urology and Nephrology; Virology; Viruses; Zoonoses; Rejection; Hepatitis E; Interferon; Ribavirin; Kidney transplantation
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-020-05212-2

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) may be resistant to immunosuppression reduction and ribavirin treatment in kidney transplant recipients because of mutant strains and severe side effects of ribavirin which conduct to dose reduction. Sofosbuvir efficacy is controversial. Peg-interferon 2 alpha (PEG-IFN) is currently contraindicated due to a high risk of acute humoral and cellular rejection. The present study assessed, for the first time, the effect of PEG-IFN in a kidney transplant recipient infected with HEV. We conclude that prolonged treatment with PEG-IFN in kidney transplant recipients infected with HEV could be considered as a salvage option.