Interferon therapy for 2 years or longer reduces the incidence of hepatocarcinogenesis in patients with chronic hepatitis C viral infection.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this clinical study was to determine the effect of long-term interferon (IFN) administration on the incidence of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) in chronic hepatitis C patients, without eradication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) by IFN therapy.


METHODS
The number of patients with biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis with moderate or severe staging, HCV genotype 1b, a high viral load exceeding 1 MEq/ml (mega equivalents per milliliter), who received 6 MU of natural IFN-alpha daily for 2-8 weeks, followed by three times/week for 16-22 weeks, as initial IFN therapy, and positivity for HCV RNA during IFN administration was 131. 47 of the 131 patients continued to be treated with IFN (long-term IFN group, dose 3 or 6 MU twice or three times weekly for 1.5-10.5 years, median 4.0 years) after initial IFN therapy, while 84 patients did not receive any IFN therapy apart from the initial 6-month course (no-add-IFN group). The patients were prospectively monitored, and the cumulative incidence of HCC and risk factors for HCC were examined.


RESULTS
The 5- and 10-year cumulative rates of HCC were 1.9 and 6.4% and 1.9 and 26.8% for long-term IFN and no-add-IFN groups, respectively. Cox regression analysis indicated that the relative risk of HCC in the patients of the no-add-IFN group was 8.72 times of that in patients of the long-term IFN group.


CONCLUSIONS
Long-term IFN therapy in patients with chronic HCV infection is effective in preventing hepatocarcinogenesis.
Arase
Yasuji
Y
Department of Gastroenterology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. es9y-ars@asahi-net.or.jp
Ikeda
Kenji
K
Tsubota
Akihito
A
Suzuki
Fumitaka
F
Suzuki
Yoshiyuki
Y
Saitoh
Satoshi
S
Kobayashi
Masahiro
M
Akuta
Norio
N
Someya
Takashi
T
Hosaka
Tetsuya
T
Sezaki
Hitomi
H
Kobayashi
Mariko
M
Kumada
Hiromitsu
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000502:physiology; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D000637:Transaminases / Q000097:blood; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012367:RNA, Viral; D000637:Transaminases