Search results for " alpha-2"
showing 10 items of 104 documents
Treatment of hepatitis C: critical appraisal of the evidence
2005
Chronic hepatitis C virus infection is currently the most common cause of end stage liver disease worldwide. Although the conclusions of the last National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conferences on Hepatitis C have recently been published, several important issues remain unanswered. This paper reviews the available data using an evidence-based approach. Current evidence is sufficient to recommend IFN treatment for all patients with acute hepatitis. A later initiation of therapy yields the same likelihood of response as early treatment. A daily induction dose during month 1 is the best treatment option. The current gold standard of efficacy for treatment-naive patients with ch…
5-Fluorouracil plus interferon α-2a compared to 5-fluorouracil alone in the treatment of advanced colon carcinoma: A multicentric randomized study
1998
Biochemical modulation is one of the most interesting fields in cancer chemotherapy. Interferon-alpha (IFNalpha) is a cytokine that is able to influence the pharmacodynamics of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) through a number of mechanisms. With the aim of confirming some data emerging from the literature, we initiated a multicentric randomized study comparing the combination of 5FU and IFNalpha-2a with 5FU alone in the treatment of advanced or metastatic colon cancer. A group of 205 colon cancer patients (104 in the 5FU arm and 101 in the 5FU + IFNapha-2a arm) were included in the final intention-to-treat analysis. Rectal cancers were not considered eligible. All patients had measurable disease, were…
Factors that predict response of patients with hepatitis C virus infection to boceprevir
2012
Background & Aims Little is known about factors associated with a sustained virologic response (SVR) among patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection to treatment with protease inhibitors. Methods Previously untreated patients (from the Serine Protease Inhibitor Therapy 2 [SPRINT-2] trial) and those who did not respond to prior therapy (from the Retreatment with HCV Serine Protease Inhibitor Boceprevir and PegIntron/Rebetol 2 [RESPOND-2] trial) received either a combination of peginterferon and ribavirin for 48 weeks or boceprevir, peginterferon, and ribavirin (triple therapy) after 4 weeks of peginterferon and ribavirin (total treatment duration, 28–48 wk). A good response to interfer…
Real-world outcomes in patients with chronic hepatitis C: primary results of the PROBE study.
2014
BACKGROUND This large prospective multicentre cohort study aimed to improve knowledge of therapy for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) in real clinical practice. METHODS A diverse population of adults with CHC including patients with comorbid conditions, laboratory abnormalities and demographic features [comorbidities or special populations (CSP)] who were under-represented or excluded from peginterferon registration studies was treated with peginterferon α-2a (40 kDa) or α-2b (12 kDa) plus ribavirin at the investigator's discretion. RESULTS During the study, 5399 treatment-naive patients [2527 (46.8%) with CSP] received peginterferon α-2a (n=3513, 65.1%) or peginterferon α-2b (n=1886, 34.9%). The …
Baseline prediction of combination therapy outcome in hepatitis C virus 1b infected patients by discriminant analysis using viral and host factors.
2010
Background Current treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has limited efficacy −especially among genotype 1 infected patients−, is costly, and involves severe side effects. Thus, predicting non-response is of major interest for both patient wellbeing and health care expense. At present, treatment cannot be individualized on the basis of any baseline predictor of response. We aimed to identify pre-treatment clinical and virological parameters associated with treatment failure, as well as to assess whether therapy outcome could be predicted at baseline. Methodology Forty-three HCV subtype 1b (HCV-1b) chronically infected patients treated with pegylated-interferon alpha plus ri…
Acute polymyositis during treatment of acute hepatitis C with pegylated interferon alpha-2b.
2005
Hepatitis C virus is not cleared after primary infection in 50-85% of subjects exposed to hepatitis C virus. Anti-viral treatment during the early phase of infection significantly enhances the likelihood of a sustained clearance of hepatitis C virus. Although, a variety of autoimmune-related side effects have been observed during interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis, immuno-mediated adverse reactions have not been reported during treatment of acute hepatitis C. We describe the case of a patient who developed acute hepatitis C virus infection and, while receiving pegylated interferon alpha-2b monotherapy, developed a severe polymyositis. This case illustrates the potential risk of autoim…
Personalized cost-effectiveness of boceprevir-based triple therapy for untreated patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C
2014
Abstract Background We assessed the cost-effectiveness of boceprevir-based triple therapy compared to peginterferon alpha and ribavirin dual therapy in untreated patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C; patients were discriminated according to the combination of baseline plus on-treatment predictors of boceprevir-based triple therapy. Methods Cost-effectiveness analysis performed according to data from the available published literature. The target population was composed of untreated Caucasian patients, aged 50 years, with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C, and these were evaluated over a lifetime horizon by Markov model. The study was carried out from the perspective of the Italian Nati…
Response to antiviral therapy and hepatic expression of cyclooxygenases in chronic hepatitis C
2007
OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to investigate the expression of cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-1 and COX-2) in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) by immunohistochemistry, based on the hypothesis that COXs expression could vary according to genotype, viral load, liver steatosis, BMI and response to therapy and to determine whether the addition of selective COX inhibitors could have a rationale in increasing the efficacy of antiviral therapy. METHODS: We used 35 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded liver tissue samples obtained by needle biopsy from patients with CHC (17F/18M) with one of two types of genotype (1b and 3a). The presence of COX-1 and COX-2 in the cytoplasm of hepatocyt…
Anemia during treatment with peginterferon Alfa-2b/ribavirin and boceprevir: Analysis from the serine protease inhibitor therapy 2 (SPRINT-2) trial
2013
International audience; Boceprevir (BOC) added to peginterferon alfa-2b (PegIFN) and ribavirin (RBV) significantly increases sustained virologic response (SVR) rates over PegIFN/RBV alone in previously untreated adults with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1. We evaluate the relationship of incident anemia with triple therapy. A total of 1,097 patients received a 4-week lead-in of PegIFN/RBV followed by: (1) placebo plus PegIFN/RBV for 44 weeks (PR48); (2) BOC plus PegIFN/RBV using response-guided therapy (BOC/RGT); and (3) BOC plus PegIFN/RBV for 44 weeks (BOC/PR48). The management of anemia (hemoglobin [Hb]<10 g/dL) included RBV dose reduction and/or erythropoietin (EPO) use. A total of 1,080…
Efficacy and safety of extended-release guanfacine hydrochloride in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A randomi…
2014
AbstractGuanfacine extended-release (GXR), a selective α2A-adrenergic agonist, is a non-stimulant treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study assessed the efficacy (symptoms and function) and safety of dose-optimized GXR compared with placebo in children and adolescents with ADHD. An atomoxetine (ATX) arm was included to provide reference data against placebo. Patients (6–17 years) were randomized at baseline to dose-optimized GXR (0.05–0.12mg/kg/day – 6–12 years: 1–4mg/day; 13–17 years: 1–7mg/day), ATX (10–100mg/day) or placebo for 4 or 7 weeks. The primary efficacy measure was change from baseline in ADHD Rating Scale version IV (ADHD-RS-IV). Key secondary me…