What is the safe duration of therapy for patients infected with HCV genotype 6?
Very few studies have been published on response to treatment and treatment duration of patients infected with HCV genotype 6. This commentary discusses a study by Nguyen et al. that confirms that standard therapy is associated with a high-virologic response in patients infected with HCV genotype 6. This study also reported that patients who had chronic HCV infection with genotype 6 had a higher rate of sustained virologic response to 48 weeks of treatment with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin than to 24 weeks of treatment with the same combination of drugs. Although these results are promising, they need to be validated in a large prospective study before general conclusions can be drawn.
Antaki
Nabil
N
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Saint Louis Hospital, Aleppo, Syrian Arab Republic. antaki@scs-net.org
Marcellin
Patrick
P
D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005838:Genotype; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; C100416:peginterferon alfa-2a