Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy after treatment with interferon-alpha.
Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), though widely used for the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis, may be associated with the occurrence of autoimmune disorders. In this case report, a patient with chronic hepatitis C virus infection had chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) after the initiation of IFN-alpha therapy. The neurological symptoms of this patient continued to progress even though the treatment with IFN-alpha had been withdrawn; the symptoms improved dramatically following treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin. This case may therefore provide an important clue to understand the immune mechanism of CIDP and IFN-alpha.
Hirotani
Makoto
M
Department of Neurology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo. hirotani@med.hokudai.ac.jp
Nakano
Hitoshi
H
Ura
Shigehisa
S
Yoshida
Kazuto
K
Niino
Masaaki
M
Yabe
Ichiro
I
Sasaki
Hidenao
H
D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D011115:Polyneuropathies / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D016898:Interferon-alpha