title: A controlled study of treatment with recombinant interferon alpha in chronic hepatitis B virus infection: induction and maintenance schedules.
abstract: To determine the antiviral effect of recombinant-interferon (rIFN)-alpha in hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronic infection, a controlled study was carried out. A total of 20 HBsAg chronic carriers (18 chronic active hepatitis and 2 chronic persistent hepatitis) were included. All of them had remained HBeAg, HBV-DNA and HBV-DNA polymerase (HBV-DNAp) positive at least six months before treatment. The patients were randomly assigned to two groups: control (n = 10), and treatment (n = 10). A dose of 5.5 megaunits of rIFN-alpha/m2 body surface was administered every day for 21 days (induction) and twice a week for six months thereafter (maintenance). No basal differences were observed between the two groups. No case of intolerable toxicity was observed. One treated patient died in a car crash in the second month. At the end of the first week of therapy, 7/10 (70%) of the treated patients became HBV-DNAp negative. However, in the fifth month only 2 patients remained HBV-DNAp negative and also became HBV-DNA and HBeAg negative. In contrast, no changes in viral markers among control cases were observed. In conclusion, rIFN-alpha has an antiviral effect on chronic HBV infection; however, the induction plus maintenance schedule is not useful to obtain a permanent effect.
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000628:therapy*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013601:T-Lymphocytes; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D007370:Interferon Type I; D011994:Recombinant Proteins