title: Response of combination therapy on viral load and disease severity in chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: Influence of genotypes on viral kinetics and disease severity in chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) patients has been implicated, but requires further investigation. The 41 HCV patients were genotyped by restriction fragment length polymorphism and included for 48 weeks of combination therapy on the basis of clinical (alanine amino transferase > or =60 IU/l) and histological features (histological activity index > or =3). A significant number (30/41) of patients (6/9 of genotype 1, 23/30 of genotype 3 and 1/2 of mixed genotype) attain sustained virological response despite high viral load at baseline. More aggressive treatment was required in genotype 1 than in genotype 3 due to slow response rate. Significant (P < 0.05) difference in the viral load of sustained virological responder and non-responder (NR) was observed after 12 weeks of therapy. Severe course of liver disease was observed in 81.81% (9/11) of NR patients at baseline. Data indicate that genotype 1 was a slow responder compared to genotype 3 on combination therapy. Response to combination therapy was almost independent of baseline viral load. However, a positive correlation of viral load with disease severity was observed. The viral kinetics at 12 weeks is an important tool for determination of virological response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi 110 002, India.
authors.forename: Deepak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asim
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chakravarti
authors.forename: Rakha H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Premashis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin