Treatment of chronic hepatitis delta virus (Hdv) infection with human lymphoblastoid alpha interferon

P. Farci, P. Karayiannis, M. G. Brook, A. Smedile, M. E. Lai, A. Balestrieri, J. A. Saldanha, J. Monjardino, J. Gerin, H. C. Thomas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Ten patients with evidence of continuing HDV replication were treated with lymphoblastoid alpha-interferon and eight more were followed as a non-randomized control group. Four out of eight patients who completed one year of follow-up had cleared HDV-RNA from the serum whilst none of the control group did so. In these four responding cases there was a transient increase in transaminase levels during treatment and in two, this was followed by improvement. One patient also cleared HBV and seroconverted to anti-HBs (antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen - HBsAg). In one patient with sustained loss of HDV, recurrence of HDV infection was detected 18 months after completion of treatment.These data suggest that alpha-interferon can inhibit HDV replication in the short term but relapse after one to two years may occur. Inhibition of HDV-RNA is associated with improvement in the inflammatory liver disease and now larger studies are required to determine whether it influences survival.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1045-1054
Number of pages10
JournalQJM
Volume73
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1989

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