All-trans retinoic acid for treatment of chronic hepatitis C

Background/Aims: In vitro studies in the subgenomic hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon system have identified all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) as a potential therapeutic against hepatitis C. Thus, the antiviral potential of this drug should be assessed in vivo. Methods: Twenty highly treatment experienced serotype 1 patients with non-response to conventional or pegylated interferon-α (Peg-/IFN-α) and ribavirin were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of monotherapy with ATRA (group A) or a combination of ATRA and PegIFN-α2a (group B). HCV RNA was assessed by bDNA assay and if negative by highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction. Results: During treatment, five of 10 patients in group A had a drop o…