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Long‐term follow‐up after successful interferon therapy of acute hepatitis C

Long‐term follow‐up after successful interferon therapy of acute hepatitis C Early treatment of acute hepatitis C infection with interferon alfa‐2b (IFN‐α‐2b) prevents chronicity in almost all patients. So far, no data are available on the long‐term outcome after interferon (IFN) therapy of acute hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical, virological, and immunological long‐term outcome of 31 successfully treated patients with acute hepatitis C infection who were followed for a median of 135 weeks (52‐224 weeks) after end of therapy. None of the individuals had clinical evidence of liver disease. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were normal in all but 1 patient. Serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA was negative throughout follow‐up, even when investigated with the highly sensitive transcription‐mediated amplification (TMA) assay (cutoff 5‐10 IU/mL). In addition, no HCV RNA was detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 15 cases tested. The patients' overall quality‐of‐life scores as determined by the SF‐36 questionnaire did not differ from the German reference control cohort. Ex vivo interferon gamma (IFN‐γ) ELISPOT analysis detected HCV‐specific CD4+ T‐helper cell reactivity in only 35% of cases, whereas HCV‐specific CD8+ T‐cell responses were found in 4 of 5 HLA‐A2–positive individuals. Anti‐HCV antibody levels decreased significantly during and after therapy in all individuals. In conclusion, early treatment of symptomatic acute hepatitis C with IFN‐α‐2b leads to a long‐term virological, biochemical, and clinical response. Waning of anti‐HCV humoral immunity and presence of HCV‐specific CD8+ (but not CD4+) T cells highlights the complexity of T‐cell and B‐cell memory to HCV, which might be significantly altered by IFN treatment. (HEPATOLOGY 2004;40:98–107.) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Hepatology Wiley

Long‐term follow‐up after successful interferon therapy of acute hepatitis C

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References (57)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases
ISSN
0270-9139
eISSN
1527-3350
DOI
10.1002/hep.20291
pmid
15239091
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Early treatment of acute hepatitis C infection with interferon alfa‐2b (IFN‐α‐2b) prevents chronicity in almost all patients. So far, no data are available on the long‐term outcome after interferon (IFN) therapy of acute hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical, virological, and immunological long‐term outcome of 31 successfully treated patients with acute hepatitis C infection who were followed for a median of 135 weeks (52‐224 weeks) after end of therapy. None of the individuals had clinical evidence of liver disease. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were normal in all but 1 patient. Serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA was negative throughout follow‐up, even when investigated with the highly sensitive transcription‐mediated amplification (TMA) assay (cutoff 5‐10 IU/mL). In addition, no HCV RNA was detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 15 cases tested. The patients' overall quality‐of‐life scores as determined by the SF‐36 questionnaire did not differ from the German reference control cohort. Ex vivo interferon gamma (IFN‐γ) ELISPOT analysis detected HCV‐specific CD4+ T‐helper cell reactivity in only 35% of cases, whereas HCV‐specific CD8+ T‐cell responses were found in 4 of 5 HLA‐A2–positive individuals. Anti‐HCV antibody levels decreased significantly during and after therapy in all individuals. In conclusion, early treatment of symptomatic acute hepatitis C with IFN‐α‐2b leads to a long‐term virological, biochemical, and clinical response. Waning of anti‐HCV humoral immunity and presence of HCV‐specific CD8+ (but not CD4+) T cells highlights the complexity of T‐cell and B‐cell memory to HCV, which might be significantly altered by IFN treatment. (HEPATOLOGY 2004;40:98–107.)

Journal

Hepatology – Wiley

Published: Jul 1, 2004

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