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Efficacy of the regimen using twice‐daily β‐interferon followed by the standard of care for chronic hepatitis C genotype 1b with high viral load
Author(s) -
Ishikawa Toru,
Kubota Tomoyuki,
Abe Hiroyuki,
Nagashima Aiko,
Hirose Kanae,
Togashi Tadayuki,
Seki Keiichi,
Honma Terasu,
Yoshida Toshiaki,
Kamimura Tomoteru
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
hepatology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.123
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1872-034X
pISSN - 1386-6346
DOI - 10.1111/j.1872-034x.2012.00995.x
Subject(s) - ribavirin , medicine , regimen , gastroenterology , refractory (planetary science) , odds ratio , pegylated interferon , viral load , confidence interval , interferon , hepatitis c virus , chronic hepatitis , immunology , virus , biology , astrobiology
Aim: In patients with refractory genotype 1b chronic hepatitis C with high viral loads, we retrospectively compared the efficacy of standard of care treatment (SOC: combined PEG‐IFN‐α‐2b/ribavirin for 48 weeks) and a regimen in which 2 weeks of SOC induction was replaced by twice‐daily β‐interferon alone (IFN‐β induction therapy). Methods: Seventeen patients received the IFN‐β induction therapy plus SOC (IFN‐β induction group) and 13 patients received SOC alone (SOC group). Results: In the IFN‐β induction group and SOC group, early virological response (EVR) rates were 88.2% and 53.8%, respectively. The end of treatment rates were 100.0% and 92.3%, and sustained virological response (SVR) rates were 70.6% and 53.8%, respectively. By induction with IFN‐β, even in refractory cases, the high virus negative conversion rate in the early treatment phase and actions of pegylated IFN‐α‐2b and ribavirin in the maintenance treatment phase led to an additive effect. In the analysis of contributing factors, only the achievement of EVR was associated with a significant difference in SVR ( P = 0.0011). The univariate logistic regression analysis showed that only IFN‐β treatment was associated with a significant difference in EVR ( P = 0.0492, odds ratio = 6.248, 95% confidence interval = 1.026–40.252), whereas no significant factors were found in the multivariate analysis due to small samples. Conclusion: IFN‐β induction therapy with higher EVR might be beneficial for protease inhibitor‐refractory chronic hepatitis C patients.