title: [Efficacy of standard antiviral therapy retreatment following interferon treatment failure in chronic hepatitis C patients].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the therapeutic efficacy of standard antiviral therapy applied after interferon (IFN) treatment failure in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).
  
  
  METHODS
  CHC patients who completed a 48-week course of IFN therapy (pegylated (Peg)-IFNa-2a at 180 mug, qw, ih with or without ribavirin (RBV) at 15 mg/kg/w) in our hospital between January 2009 and June 2012 but who showed no response (at week 48) or who relapsed (at week 72) were enrolled in the study. Prior to initiating the 48-week course of retreatment therapy (Peg-IFNa-2a plus RBV as above), the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype was detected and the viral load measured (baseline) by PCR of HCV RNA. Each patient's response to therapy was classified as follows: baseline vs. week 4 (rapid virological response, RVR), vs. weeks 12 and 24 (early virological response, EVR), vs. week 48 (end of treatment virological response, ETVR) and vs. week 72 (sustained virological response, SVR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the total 235 cases administered retreatment therapy, 60.0% (n = 140) achieved RVR, 77.4% (n = 182) achieved EVR, 83.8% (n = 197) achieved ETVR, 68.0% (n = 68%) achieved SVR, and 15.7% (n = 37) relapsed. Stratification analysis of recurrence (n = 158) and non-responsive (n = 77) sub-groups showed that the recurrence group experienced significantly higher rates of RVR, EVR, ETVR and SVR, but a significantly lower rate of relapse. Stratification analysis of genotype 1b carrier (n = 206) and non-1b carrier (n = 29) sub-groups showed that the 1b carriers had significantly lower rates of RVR, EVR, ETVR and SVR, but a significantly higher rate of relapse. Finally, the patients who achieved RVR (vs. non RVR, n = 95) and EVR (vs. non-EVR, n = 53) showed higher rates of SVR and ETVR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CHC patients who fail to respond to the initial course of standard IFN-based therapy may achieve SVR upon retreatment, especially those infected with the HCV genotype 1b.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Henan Province People Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, China.
authors.forename: Jun-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.forename: Gang-Qiang
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Er-Hui
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Jun-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007372:Interferons / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019233:Retreatment; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017211:Treatment Failure
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; D007372:Interferons; C100416:peginterferon alfa-2a