0000000001092764
AUTHOR
Elmar Jaeckel
HCV-induced immune responses influence the development of operational tolerance after liver transplantation in humans.
Pathogen-induced immune responses prevent the establishment of transplantation tolerance in experimental animal models. Whether this occurs in humans as well remains unclear. The development of operational tolerance in liver transplant recipients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection allows us to address this question. We conducted a clinical trial of immunosuppression withdrawal in HCV-infected adult liver recipients to elucidate (i) the mechanisms through which allograft tolerance can be established in the presence of an ongoing inflammatory response and (ii) whether anti-HCV heterologous immune responses influence this phenomenon. Of 34 enrolled liver recipients, drug withdrawal…
Early monotherapy with pegylated interferon alpha-2b for acute hepatitis C infection: the HEP-NET acute-HCV-II study.
Early treatment of acute hepatitis C with interferon alpha-2b for 24 weeks prevents chronic infection in almost all patients. Because pegylated interferons have replaced conventional interferon in the therapy of chronic hepatitis C, the aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy of an early treatment of acute hepatitis C with peginterferon alpha-2b. Between February 2001 and February 2004, 89 individuals with acute HCV infection were recruited at 53 different centers in Germany. Patients received 1.5 microg/kg peginterferon alpha-2b for 24 weeks; treatment was initiated after a median of 76 days after infection (range 14-150). End-of-treatment response and sustained virological response …