Pseudouridine for monitoring interferon treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Pseudouridine is a modified nucleoside derived from RNA catabolism; the concentration of this nucleoside is elevated in body fluids of both tumour-bearing and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients. We used an HPLC procedure to evaluate the serum pseudouridine concentration in patients with chronic hepatitis C in an attempt to determine whether the nucleoside serum concentration was related to the response to alpha-interferon treatment. We found that: a) pseudouridine serum concentration was increased significantly in 76% (29/39) of patients with chronic hepatitis C at the time of diagnosis and before any therapeutic treatment; b) pseudouridine excretion was higher in patients affected by chronic hepatitis C with cirrhosis; c) there was a positive correlation between response to therapy and pseudouridine serum concentration in patients undergoing treatment with alpha-interferon; d) during one year of alpha-interferon treatment, the pseudouridine serum concentration remained within the normal range in responder patients. These results indicate that serum pseudouridine might be useful as a valuable biochemical marker with which to monitor chronic hepatitis C patients treated with alpha-interferon.
Dipartimento di Farmacologia Sperimentale, Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy.
A
A
Colonna
V
V
Guadagnino
A
A
Maiorano
E
E
Stamile
C
C
Costa
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011560:Pseudouridine / Q000032:analysis*
D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011560:Pseudouridine; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase