Source: J Indian Med Assoc  |  Posted 8 years ago

By Eurona Earl Tilley

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC -- May 5, 2004 -- Hepatitis C virus (HCV) ribonucleic acid (RNA) was undetectable is 12 out of 12 patients following a 12 week treatment regiment with pegylated interferon alpha-2b. Furthermore, a sustained viral response was achieved in 88.8% of the patients.

Francesco G. De Rosa from the University of Turin in Italy presented these findings at the 14th European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases yesterday, May 4th. He and his colleagues treated 12 acute hepatitis C patients with 1.5 ?g/kg of peg-interferon alpha 2b weekly for 12 weeks.

The patient inclusion criteria consisted of documented seroconversion, positive HCV-RNA, elevated ALT levels, and a known risk factor for the development of acute hepatitis C. Risk factors included intravenous drug use, sexual contact with HCV infection person, or exposure as a result of being a healthcare professional. Nine patients had HCV genotype 1 and 8 were asymptomatic. None of the participants presented with jaundice.

In this open, nonrandomized, prospective cohort study, ALT and HCV-RNA levels were measured at 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks, and 60 weeks after the completion of the peg-interferon alpha 2b treatment. A sustained viral response was considered the primary endpoint.

The baseline median HCV-RNA level was 129,500 copies/mL (range 3000 ? 3,100,000 copied/mL). By the conclusion of post-treatment week 4, HCV-RNA was undetectable in all but one of the genotype 1 patients. The mean average to clear the virus was 3.2 weeks. All patients were HCV-RNA negative by post-treatment week 12. Nine patients returned for the 24 week post-treatment evaluation. Eight of these nine had a sustained viral response. One hundred percent (7/7) of the patients who returned for the 60 week evaluation tested negative for the presence of the virus.

Dr. De Rosa concluded that pegylated interferon alpha-2b appears to be effective and well tolerated as a single treatment. It is especially successful among genotype 1 HCV infected patients and may decrease the rate of chronic liver diseases. Further studies are warranted, though, to confirm these results.

[Presentation title: "Treatment of acute C hepatitis with pegylated interferon alpha-2b: preliminary results." Abstract #O359]