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Title: Mistletoe Extract May be Effective for Hepatitis C Patients Intolerant or Unresponsive to Interferon and Ribavirin: Presented at DDW

"Mistletoe Extract May be Effective for Hepatitis C Patients Intolerant or Unresponsive to Interferon and Ribavirin: Presented at DDW"

By Charlene Laino NEW ORLEANS, LA -- May 18, 2004 -- Current hepatitis C treatments result in about half of patients achieving sustained response rates, but combined therapy with mistletoe extract (Abnobaviscum) and Solanum lycopersicum can help about half of hard-to-treat patients who cannot tolerate or fail to respond to pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin, report German researchers. Harald Matthes, MD, medical director and chief of the Department of Gastroenterology at Havelhohe Hospital for Anthroposophically Extended Medicine in Berlin, Germany, presented the findings here on May 16[^th at Digestive Disease Week 2004 (DDW).

"About 20% to 30% of all hepatitis C patients don't reach 48 weeks of therapy because of harsh side effects," he said. Seeking an alternative, the researchers turned to what Dr. Matthes termed "unconventional," or phytotherapeutic, treatment.

"We used a whole extract of mistletoe, which stimulates CD4 helper cells, and Solanum lycopersicum, found in green tomatoes, which stimulates caspase-8, a key enzyme that stimulates cell suicide," he said. The hepatitis C virus blocks caspase-8.

To date, the researchers have studied 85 patients with chronic hepatitis C, 27 of whom failed interferon therapy. The patients were administered mistletoe three times per week subcutaneously, with Solanum lycopersicum tablets added on day 14. Seventy-eight patients completed 12 months of therapy and 64 patients completed 24 months.

Of the 78 patients who completed and terminated therapy 1 year of treatment, 18% tested negative on hepatitis C virus-RNA polymerase chain reaction testing at 12 months, while 25% showed a sustained response at 24 months, Dr. Matthes reported. Overall, 44% of patients experienced some drop in viral load as of 24 months.

No therapy-limiting side effects were observed.

"It's not quite as high a response rate as you see with interferon and ribavirin," Dr. Matthes said. "But it's very safe and inexpensive. For patients who can't tolerate conventional treatment or for whom interferon is contraindicated due to autoimmune illness, we now have an option."

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