Open AccessEffects of Interferon and Adenine Arabinoside Treatment of Hepatitis B Virus Infection on Cellular Immune Responses
Author(s) -
Barry Hafkin,
Richard B. Pollard,
M. L. Tiku,
William S. Robinson,
Thomas C. Merigan
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.07
H-Index - 259
eISSN - 1070-6283
pISSN - 0066-4804
DOI - 10.1128/aac.16.6.781
Subject(s) - antigen , immunology , immune system , interferon , virology , lymphocyte , hepatitis b virus , hepatitis , biology , hepatitis b , virus , medicine
Fifteen patients with chronic hepatitis B were treated with adenine arabinoside (Ara-A) or human leukocyte interferon (HLI). Cellular immune response to hepatitis B virus surface antigen and antigens prepared from herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and cytomegalovirus was measured by a lymphocyte blast transformation assay and an assay for interferon production. Measurements were made before, during, and after antiviral treatment. Unlike patients convalescing from acute hepatitis B, only 2 of 15 patients with chronic hepatitis B had significant blast transformation to hepatitis B surface antigen. One such response occurred during the pretreatment period of HLI therapy, and the other was in a patient undergoing low-dose (<105 U/kg per day) HLI therapy. Mononuclear cell cultures were tested for interferon production in the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen. Cells from only 1 of 15 patients produced detectable levels of interferon. In contrast, all of these patients had normal cellular immune responses to herpesvirus antigens. Transformation responses to herpes antigens decreased three- to fivefold after patients were treated with >105 U of HLI per kg per day. Antiviral therapy with <105 U of HLI per kg per day or Ara-A did not produce a detectable depression of transformation response. Ara-A produced marked lymphocytopenia and a marked lymphocyte fragility after 5 or more days of therapy. In vitro Ara-A was toxic to lymphocytes at concentrations as low as 0.5 μg/ml. These changes in lymphocyte parameters may affect the outcome of antiviral therapy.