title: Interferon-beta induction/interferon-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: Treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with interferon (IFN) and ribavirin improves the rate of eradication of the virus by less than 20% in patients with genotype 1b and a high viral load. In this study we assessed whether IFN-beta induction/IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin enhances the efficacy of the therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The efficacy of IFN-beta induction/IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy (group A, n=7) was compared with that of IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin (group B, n=7) in 14 patients with high levels of HCV-RNA (> 100 K/U/ml). No significant differences were observed in the clearance of HCV-RNA between the two groups (A and B, respectively) 2 weeks after the start of the treatment (0% and 14.3%), at the end of the treatment (71.4% and 100%) and 6 months after the end of the treatment (28.6% and 14.3%). Recovery was complete in 28.6% and 14.3%, transient in 42.9% and 85.7% and absent in 28.6% and 0% in groups A and B, respectively. Early log changes in the viral load from the baseline after 2 weeks of treatment were 2.41 +/- 0.91 and 2.77 +/- 0.20 in groups A and B, respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups. In the present study, we were not able to demonstrate that IFN-beta induction/IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy was superior to IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy in patients with genotype 1b and high viral loads.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Medicine & Medical Genetics, International Center for Medical Research and Treatment, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: K I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sasase
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mita
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Togitani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shikata
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Izawa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohtani
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muramoto
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nabeshima
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin; D016899:Interferon-beta