High viral eradication with a daily 12-week natural interferon-beta treatment regimen in chronic hepatitis C patients with low viral load. IFN-beta Research Group.
Virological sustained response (SR) is achieved in 31-49% of patients with chronic hepatitis C with combination therapy using interferon (IFN)-alpha and ribavirin for 24-48 weeks. However, as a period of 24-48 weeks is a burden for patients, we investigated the effect of daily intravenous administration of natural IFN-beta for 12 weeks in this study. In all, 112 patients were enrolled and received a daily administration of 6 MU of natural IFN-beta intravenously for 12 weeks. Serum HCV-RNA before treatment was assessed by the competitive reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction assay. The patients were divided into two groups according to pretreatment viral load: the low viral load group (N = 25, <6.3 x 10(5) copies/ml), and the high viral load group (N = 87, > or =6.3 x 10(5) copies/ml) who were additionally administered IFN-beta thrice weekly for subsequent 14 weeks at the patients' request. Virological SR was obtained in 37% (41/112) of all the patients; 88% of those with a low viral load, and 22% of patients with a high viral load. Virological SR was attained in 21% of patients with HCV subtype 1, and in 67% of those with subtype 2a. In patients with HCV subtype 1b, virological SR was obtained in patients with the mutant-type (> or =4 amino acid mutations in the NSSA2209-48) having a low viral load (4/4), but not in those having a high viral load (0/3). The results suggest that a daily intravenous administration of natural IFN-beta for 12 weeks showed high therapeutic efficacy in patients with a low viral load despite the shorter treatment period and that the therapeutic efficacy depends on viral load rather than on the number of NS5A2209-48 amino acid mutations.
Department of Gastroenterology, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Y
Y
Shiratori
R
R
Nakata
N
N
Shimizu
H
H
Katada
S
S
Hisamitsu
E
E
Yasuda
M
M
Matsumura
T
T
Narita
K
K
Kawada
M
M
Omata
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000628:therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D012367:RNA, Viral; D016899:Interferon-beta