Long-term remission of chronic hepatitis B after alpha-interferon therapy
Article Abstract:
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that is caused by drugs, toxins or viruses. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause both acute hepatitis and chronic hepatitis. The latter has been known to progress to cirrhosis, liver cancer and death. Few therapies for HBV infection have shown promise until recently, when alpha-interferon was discovered to produce remission of HBV disease in 25 percent or more of the patients studied. A long-term study of 64 patients with chronic hepatitis B disease was conducted. Each patient was treated with alpha-interferon, and the various markers of the disease in the patients' blood were assayed (measured). Remission was produced in 23 patients (32 percent of the total), as measured by the loss of HBV DNA and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg, a fragment of the core of the virus). Three of these patients relapsed, but of the remaining 20 patients in remission, 8 went on to lose the last marker of the presence of HBV infection, which is hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), although this often occurred several years after the end of interferon therapy. The data seem to suggest that given enough time, all patients with HBV disease who are treated with alpha-interferon and achieve a lasting remission will lose all traces of disease, and will do so much sooner than patients who experience spontaneous remissions. Treatment with alpha-interferon shows promise in eradicating HBV disease in a small but significant number of the chronic hepatitis patients who receive it. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 1991
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Ribavirin as therapy for chronic hepatitis C: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Article Abstract:
Ribavirin therapy by itself may not be an effective treatment for hepatitis C. Researchers compared the effect of oral ribavirin to that of placebo given for one year to 58 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Blood levels of alanine aminotransferase returned to normal at the beginning of treatment with ribavirin in 35% of patients, indicating that their liver function had improved. Blood levels of hepatitis C did not change, however. Destruction of red blood cells leading to anemia was a side effect of ribavirin therapy. Ribavirin may not be as effective as interferon-alpha in reducing the level of hepatitis C in the blood and in the liver. Ribavirin treatment may be effective if combined with interferon-alpha.
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 1995
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