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 language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1045-1054 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | QJM |
Volume | 73 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1989 |