Thyroid autoantibodies and dysfunction do not impact the treatment efficacy of peginterferon and ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C.
OBJECTIVE
Thyroid disorders, such as the emergence of thyroid autoantibodies (TAs) and thyroid dysfunction (TD), are not uncommon in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients. The study aimed to investigate the impact of TAs and dysfunction on the treatment response to pegylated interferon-α plus ribavirin (PegIFN/RBV) combination therapy in CHC patients. The association between interleukin-28B (IL-28B) genetic variants and occurrence of TAs and dysfunction was also analyzed.


METHODS
A total of 449 treatment-naive Taiwanese CHC patients with euthyroid status were consecutively enrolled. They received PegIFN/RBV combination therapy with current recommendation. TAs, TD, and IL-28B genetic variants were measured before treatment. Monitoring of TD was done at 3-month intervals during treatment, at end of treatment, and at end of follow-up (EOF).


RESULTS
The development of TAs was detected in 42 (9.4%) patients before treatment, and the incidence of TD during or at EOF was 20%. Of 287 patients with IL-28B rs8099917 TT genotype, 29 (10.1%) had TAs before treatment, whereas the patients with other genotypes did not have TAs (P = 0.04). There was no significant difference of TD incidence during treatment or at EOF between the patients with different IL-28B genotypes. There was also no significant difference of sustained virologic response according to the presence of TAs, TD, or different manifestations of TD.


CONCLUSIONS
Taiwanese CHC patients with rs8099917 TT genotype had a higher incidence of TAs. The development of TAs and TD did not impact the treatment efficacy of PegIFN/RBV combination therapy.
Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. jf71218@gmail.com.|Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. jf71218@gmail.com.|Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. jf71218@gmail.com.|Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. jf71218@gmail.com.
Jee-Fu
JF
Huang
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Chao-Kuan
CK
Huang
Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Ming-Lung
ML
Yu
Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Chia-Yen
CY
Dai
Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Chung-Feng
CF
Huang
Endocrine Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Wei-Wen
WW
Hung
Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Ming-Lun
ML
Yeh
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Meng-Hsuan
MH
Hsieh
Department of Preventive Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Jeng-Fu
JF
Yang
Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Ming-Yen
MY
Hsieh
Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Zu-Yau
ZY
Lin
Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Shinn-Chern
SC
Chen
Department of Internal Medicine, Changhua Christian Hospital, 135 Nanxiao St, Changhua, 500, Taiwan. shun@cch.org.tw.
Shun-Sheng
SS
Wu
Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Wan-Long
WL
Chuang