COMPARISON OF HCV TREATMENT

Objectives: To analyze End of Treatment Response (ETR) and SustainedVirological Response (SVR) to HCV mono-infection in comparison with HCV/HBV co-infection.Study Design: Retrospective, multicenter study. Place and duration of study: The study wasconducted at Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Army Medical College incollaboration with Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi and was completed in12 months. Material and Methods: This study included two hundred and twelve HCV infectedpatients, treated with IFN-α-2b 6MU thrice weekly plus ribavirin 1000-1200 mg daily for 24 weeksduration. The subjects were divided into two groups of 152 HCV mono-infected and 60 HCV/HBVco-infected patients. Pretreatment biochemical factors, EVR and SVR were compared betweentwo groups. Results: There is no significant difference between the proportions of HCV monoinfectedversus HCV/HBV co-infected patients with ALT & AST levels before interferon therapy.The analysis by intention to treat exhibit EVR of 75% and 60% among co-infected and monoinfectedpatients respectively (p = 0.038). Similarly, SVR of 50% and 45% was observed in HCV/HBV co-infected and mono-infected patients (p = 0.489). Conclusions: HCV/HBV co-infectedand HCV mono-infected patients had similar biochemical characteristics with significant lowerHCV-RNA titer in mono-infected patients. HCV/HBV co-infected patients showed higher EVRand SVR rates to interferon-alpha/ribavirin combination therapy as compare to mono-infectedpatients. The most possible factors responsible for favorable response rate in co-infectedpatients would be due to positive host immune reaction and reciprocal viral interaction.