Predictors of the efficacy of intravenous natural interferon-beta treatment in chronic hepatitis C.
BACKGROUND
Several pretreatment factors have been reported to be useful in predicting patients with a high probability for a sustained response to IFN-alpha treatment, however, predictors of the efficacy of interferon-beta treatment in chronic hepatitis C have not been fully assessed.


METHODS
To clarify this issue, a prospective study of 52 patients with chronic hepatitis C was conducted. Patients were treated with human natural interferon-beta by drip infusion at doses of 6 MU/day for 8 weeks. The following characteristics were compared between patients with sustained response (SR) and no response (NR): gender, age, source of HCV infection, mean pretreatment serum ALT levels, liver histology, pretreatment serum HCV-RNA levels and HCV genotype.


RESULTS
Seventeen of 52 patients (32.7%) demonstrated SR. The proportion of patients with undetectable HCV-RNA levels determined by branched DNA assay (< 0.5 x 10(6) eq/ml) was higher in patients with SR than in those with NR (88.2% vs. 22.9%; p = 0.0001). Pretreatment HCV RNA levels determined by multicyclic reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction were lower in patients with SR than in those with NR (10(5.1 +/- 1.5) vs. 10(7.1 +/- 1.3) copies/ml; p = 0.0001). The rate of SR was higher in patients with genotype 2a or 2b than in genotype 1b (43.8% vs. 15.0%; p = 0.0382). Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that a younger age and low pretreatment serum levels of HCV RNA were independent predictors of SR to treatment. This prospective study demonstrated that a younger age, low pretreatment viral load and HCV genotype 2a or 2b were factors influencing the SR to interferon-beta treatment, but a younger age and low pretreatment viral load were most important predictors of the efficacy of the treatment.
Fukutomi
T
T
Department of Medicine, Fukuoka City Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan.
Fukutomi
M
M
Iwao
M
M
Watanabe
H
H
Tanabe
Y
Y
Hiroshige
K
K
Kinukawa
N
N
Nakamuta
M
M
Nawata
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D012367:RNA, Viral; D016899:Interferon-beta