title: 2',5'-Oligoadenylate synthetase activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes as a clinical marker in interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis B.
abstract: Treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with human leukocyte interferon (IFN-alpha) was studied in terms of increase of 2',5'-oligoadenylate (2-5A) synthetase activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) after IFN-alpha administration. The 2-5A synthetase activity in PBL increased to a maximum 16-24 h after IFN-alpha injection and then gradually decreased, while serum HB virus DNA polymerase (HBV-DNAP) activity, which corresponds to the amount of HBV virions in the serum, decreased to a minimum after about 48 h. Increase in 2-5A synthetase activity was followed about 1 day later by decrease in DNAP activity. Furthermore, of 9 patients treated with IFN for at least 22 weeks and observed for over 1 year after IFN treatment, the effective 5 cases in which HBeAg disappeared during IFN therapy and did not reappear showed rather high increases in 2-5A synthetase activity, whereas the ineffective 4 cases in which HBeAg remained positive at the end of IFN therapy showed little increases in enzyme activity. The present study suggests that prescreening by 2-5A synthetase assay before IFN therapy should be useful for obtaining better results in IFN treatment of CHB patients.
mesh_terms: D015088:2',5'-Oligoadenylate Synthetase / Q000097:blood*; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000097:blood; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000201:enzymology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007700:Kinetics; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D007370:Interferon Type I; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; D015088:2',5'-Oligoadenylate Synthetase