title: Antiviral treatment responses in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection evaluated by a third generation anti-hepatitis C virus assay.
abstract: Antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV) may decrease or disappear after viral clearance in treated or spontaneously resolved infection. We evaluated the usefulness of serial antibody assays in predicting the antiviral treatment responses. One hundred and four chronic hepatitis C patients who received 24 weeks of interferon and ribavirin combination therapy were assayed with a third generation enzyme immunoassay anti-HCV. The mean titre of anti-HCV decreased by more than 50% (from 89.5 +/- 10.8 to 43.6 +/- 17.5) at 48 weeks post-treatment in patients with a sustained virological response, while in nonsustained virological responders and nonresponders, the titres remained over 85% of the pretreatment level at 48 weeks post-treatment. There was a divergence of anti-HCV titres between sustained and nonsustained virological responders during 6-9 months. By using the ratio of 9-month to 6-month titres as an index and receiver operator characteristic curve analysis with the cut-off point set at 90%, we could differentiate sustained virological responders from nonsustained virological responders with a sensitivity and specificity of 91.7% and 90.9%, respectively, 3 months after treatment. The titre of this third generation anti-HCV decreased progressively in sustained virological responders and this assay may be used to monitor and predict antiviral treatment responses.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: H-D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Tung
authors.forename: S-N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: C-M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: T-M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: C-H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: W-S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: C-S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Changchien
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005260:Female; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D004338:Drug Combinations; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin