title: Predictive factors in the response to interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: Factors predicting the efficacy of interferon therapy were statistically analyzed on 111 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Of the treated patients (total doses of interferon; 96-468 MU), 35 (31.5%) had a long-term remission. On multivariate analysis, hepatitis C virus genotype (p < 0.0001), histological diagnosis (p < 0.05), fibrosis score of histological activity index (p < 0.01) and source of infection (p < 0.05) were found useful for predicting the response to interferon therapy. Our findings suggest that the outcome of interferon therapy can be predicted to some degree from pretreatment data, and that a new therapeutic strategy is necessary for the group of patients who are predicted to be nonresponders.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aiyama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takayanagi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kakumu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001483:Base Sequence; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011379:Prognosis; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D007372:Interferons