title: Efficacy and safety of combination therapy of natural human interferon beta and ribavirin in chronic hepatitis C patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination therapy of natural human interferon-beta and ribavirin for patients for whom prior interferon therapy was discontinued due to depression induced by interferon-alpha.
  
  
  METHODS
  Inclusion criteria were as follows; 1) HCV-genotype 1b, 2) serum HCV RNA level of ≥100 KIU/mL, 3) stopping the prior interferon-alpha monotherapy or combination therapy of interferon-alpha and ribavirin due to the appearance of depression. A total of 14 were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. The treatment period of combination therapy was 48 weeks. Depression states, reflected by Beck depression inventories and Hamilton depression rating scale, were assessed during combination therapy. Nonparametric procedures were employed for the analysis of background features of the patients with sustained virological response (SVR) and without SVR. A p value of <0.05 was considered to indicate a significant difference.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five of 14 patients (37.5%) had SVR by the intention to treat analysis. The SVR rate in patients who showed negative HCV RNA at 12 and 24 weeks after the initiation of combination therapy was 100% (4/4) and 83.3% (5/6), respectively. All of the patients continued the combination therapy owing to disappearance of severely adverse events contained the exacerbation of depression. Combination therapy did not yield a statistical difference in Beck depression inventories and Hamilton depression rating scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combination therapy of IFN-beta and ribavirin is a possible therapy selection for the patients for whom interferon therapy was discontinued due to depression induced by interferon-alpha.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatology and Okinaka Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Toranomon Hospital, Japan. es9y-ars@asahi-net.or.jp
authors.forename: Yasuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arase
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Fumitaka
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akuta
authors.forename: Norihiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Yuya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seko
authors.forename: Hitomi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sezaki
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawamura
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hosaka
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumada
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012367:RNA, Viral; D012254:Ribavirin; D016899:Interferon-beta