Effect of lymphoblastoid alfa-interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C having different genotypic subtype of hepatitis C virus.
Five subtypes of hepatitis C virus (Pt[I], K1[II], K2a[III], K2b[IV] and Tr[V]) have been suggested based on the nucleotide sequence of the non-structural five region. To assess the susceptibility of each subtype to interferon therapy, we developed a one-step method which allows quick determination of subtype using polymerase chain reaction with a mixed primer set deduced from the sequence of each subtype. We were able to determine the subtype of 69 of 80 (86.3%) Japanese patients who received natural alfa-interferon treatment. The incidence of each subtype was K1: 53 (76.8%), K2a: 14 (20.3%), K2b: 3 (4.3%) and Tr: 1 (1.4%). Interferon was administered to these patients and found to be effective in 28 of 51 (54.9%) patients with K1 subtype and in 16 of 18 (88.9%) patients with other subtypes (P < 0.01). These data show that K1 is a major subtype in Japan and relatively resistant to interferon treatment.
Department of Gastroenterology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
K
K
Chayama
A
A
Tsubota
Y
Y
Arase
S
S
Saitoh
K
K
Ikeda
T
T
Matsumoto
Y
Y
Sakai
M
M
Kobayashi
T
T
Morinaga
H
H
Kumada
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D016898:Interferon-alpha