Search results for " alpha-2"
showing 10 items of 104 documents
Autoregulatory role of interleukin-10 in hepatitis C patients treated with IFN-alpha.
2004
Interferon-alpha2 (IFN-alpha2) is used as standard treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C (cHCV), but little is known about the immunomodulatory effects of this cytokine in vivo. We have studied immunologic parameters in freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 26 patients with cHCV 12 h before and 12 h after the first s.c. injection of 5-6 MU IFN-alpha2. In PBMC obtained after IFN injection, a substantial increase in IL-10 production after antigen-specific and nonspecific stimulation was observed, whereas IFN-gamma production and proliferation were significantly diminished compared with PBMC obtained before IFN injection. Patients were stratified according to s…
The quantitative humoral immune response to the hepatitis C virus is correlated with disease activity and response to interferon-alpha.
1996
Virus-host interactions may have pathogenetic significance in chronic hepatitis. Thus the humoral immune response was evaluated during the clinical course of HCV-infected patients.Eighteen selected chronic HCV patients received three doses of 3 or 6 MU interferon-alpha 2a weekly for 6 to 12 months and were followed up for 6 to 60 months. Anti-HCV antibody levels were serially measured either in end-point diluted sera with the Matrix-Assay or with quantitative anti-HC34-IgG and -IgM ELISA. Circulating immune complexes were assessed by flow cytometry and the results were correlated with histology, quantitative HCV-RNA levels and genotypes.Nine complete responders (CR; genotypes 1a n = 4; 1b n…
HVR-1 quasispecies modifications occur early and are correlated to initial but not sustained response in HCV-infected patients treated with pegylated…
2003
Abstract Background/Aims HVR-1 quasispecies composition and evolution were investigated in patients chronically infected with genotype 1b HCV, treated with PEG-IFN α2b or STD-IFN α2b plus RBV. Methods HVR-1 heterogeneity was assessed by calculating nucleotidic complexity, diversity, synonymous (S) and non-synonymous (NS) substitutions at baseline, after 4 weeks of therapy ( T 1) and at follow-up ( T 18). Evolution of viral quasispecies was analysed by constructing phylogenetic trees. Results No correlation of baseline viremia with heterogeneity was observed. Nucleotidic complexity was lower in patients showing early virological response, and tended to be inversely correlated to viral load d…
HCV replication in mononuclear cells stimulates anti-HCV-secreting B cells and reflects nonresponsiveness to interferon-α
1995
Recently, it was demonstrated in chronic hepatitis C that the release of IgG and IgM anti-HCV antibodies by mononuclear cells (PBMCs) correlated with inflammatory activity, HCV persistence in serum, and negative outcome from antiviral therapy. Thus, persistent antigenic stimulation of the antibody-secreting B cells has been suggested. In this study, PBMCs were derived from 13 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Nucleic acids were extracted by the guanidine-thiocyanate-method, and plus- and minus-stranded HCV-RNAs were determined using primers from the 5'-untranslated region of HCV. Simultaneously, unstimulated PBMCs were cultured for 8 days and anti-HCV antibodies were detected in the supern…
Occult HBV infection and suppression of HCV replication in the early phase of combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C
2003
Occult HBV infection in subjects with chronic hepatitis C is related to more severe disease outcome. It has been suggested that it might reduce sensitivity to antiviral treatment.To assess in HBsAg negative subjects with chronic hepatitis C any effect of the presence of HBV genomes in the liver on the early kinetics of HCV-RNA under PEG-IFN plus ribavirin.Twenty-two anti-HCV and HCV-RNA positive subjects, with biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis C (M/F 15/7; 50 +/- 8.6 years, 16 genotype 1b) were given PEG-IFN alpha 2b 1.0 microg qw plus ribavirin (800 to 1,200 mg daily according to body weight) for an intended 52 week period. Early virological response was assessed over the first 4 weeks of th…
Serum hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA and response to alpha-interferon in anti-HCV positive chronic hepatitis
1992
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication was assessed before and during alpha-interferon (IFN) treatment in 22 anti-HCV positive patients with posttransfusion or sporadic chronic hepatitis (CH). Eleven patients were “responders” and 11 patients “non-responders” to IFN. Thirteen anti-HCV negative healthy subjects and five anti-HCV negative patients with autoimmune CH served as controls. Serum HCV-RNA was detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in all untreated anti-HCV positive patients but in none of the anti-HCV negative subjects. PCR primers from the 5′-non-coding (NC) region were more sensitive than primers from a non-structural (NS5) region in detecting HCV-RNA (21/22, 95% vs. 7/22, …
Circulating intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in chronic hepatitis C patients with normal or elevated aminotransferase before and after alpha-interfe…
2001
<i>Objectives:</i> Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) plays a fundamental role during liver inflammation. In fact, weak ICAM-1 expression is physiologically restricted to the endothelium of portal vessels and to sinusoidal lining cells, but it becomes markedly evident on sinusoidal lining cells and at the surface of hepatocytes during inflammatory liver diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the behaviour of soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) in chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) patients with persistently normal aminotransferase in comparison with patients with CH-C and elevated aminotransferase, and its changes during α-interferon (IFN) therapy. Immunohistochemical localization…
Peginterferon Alfa-2a plus Ribavirin for Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection
2002
Background Treatment with peginterferon alfa-2a alone produces significantly higher sustained virologic responses than treatment with interferon alfa-2a alone in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We compared the efficacy and safety of peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin, interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin, and peginterferon alfa-2a alone in the initial treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Methods A total of 1121 patients were randomly assigned to treatment and received at least one dose of study medication, consisting of 180 μg of peginterferon alfa-2a once weekly plus daily ribavirin (1000 or 1200 mg, depending on body weight), weekly peginterferon alfa-2a plus daily pl…
Peginterferon alfa-2b plus weight-based ribavirin for 24 weeks in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 with low viral load who achieve …
2012
. In chronic hepatitis C (CHC), treatment duration may be individualized according to time to first undetectable hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA, with patients who attain undetectable HCV RNA early in treatment being candidates for shorter regimens. The aim of this study was to determine the relapse rate in patients with CHC genotype (G) 1 infection and low baseline viral load who achieved undetectable HCV RNA by week 4 [rapid virologic response (RVR)] when treated for 24 weeks. This was an open-label, multicentre, noninterventional study. Adult patients with G1 CHC infection and baseline viral load <600,000 IU/mL who attained RVR were treated with peginterferon alfa-2b (1.5 mu g/kg/week) plus …
Sub-acute effects of interferon-α2 on adrenocorticotrophic hormone, cortisol, growth hormone and prolactin in humans
1992
Abstract This study investigated the chronic effects of interferon-α2 (IFN-α2) on hormonal secretion in humans. Six patients suffering from chronic hepatitis B or C infection received SC doses of 3 million IU IFN-α2 three times a week for 4 mo. Each patientwas examined for hormone secretion four times: the day before initial IFN-α2 administration (day 0), the day of the first injection (day 1), and 4 wk after start of IFN therapy on days 27 (without IFN administration) and 28 (with IFN administration). Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, growth hormone (hGH), and prolactin (PRL) were measured in plasma samples drawn at 30-min intervals between 1600h and 2400h. Acute administratio…