Predictors of Early Virological Response of Viral Hepatitis C to Combination Therapy with Pegylated Interferon Plus Ribavirin

Abstract

A combination therapy with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) has made it possible to achieve a sustained virological response (SVR) of 50% in refractory cases with genotype 1b and high levels of plasma HCVRNA. Several factors including virus mutation and host factors such as age, gender, fibrosis of the liver, lipid metabolism, innate immunity, and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) are reported to be correlated to therapeutic effects. However, it is difficult to determine which factor is the most important predictor for an individual patient. Data mining analysis is useful for combining all these together to predict the therapeutic effects, It is important to analyze blood tests and to predict therapeutic effects prior to initiating treatment. Our aim is to determine the independent contribution of factors including age, gender, viral load, liver fibrosis, hepatitis activity index sore, and the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) score in predicting response to therapy in chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Multivariate analysis of factors predicting rapid (RVR) and sustained (SVR) virological response in 280 consecutive, treatment-naive CHC patients treated with peginterferon alpha and ribavirin in a prospective multicentre study.

Quality of life of Hepatitis "C" Patients undergoing Interferon Therapy in Benha City

“…This finding was also in agreement with Rezik, (2012) who found that more than two thirds of patients were male .According Mohsen et al, (2011) they reported that, the incidence of chronic hepatitis C receiving combination therapy were higher in men rather than woman. On the other hand, this finding disagreed with Faisal, et al, (2013) who reported that, the incidence of chronic hepatitis C among hepatitis receiving combination therapy was similar for men and women.…”

Serum Interleukin-6 Concentration Associated with Response to Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

“…Also this finding were in agreement with the results of Faisal et al [17] and Nattermann et al [18] who reported that a higher level of IL-6 is significantly associated with SVR compared with a lower level. In contrast, Cotler et al [19] reported that there was no significant difference in basal IL-6 levels between the groups of responders and non-responders to IFN therapy.…”

Prediction of sofosbuvir response using interleukin-6 serum level and single nucleotide polymorphism of interferon lambda- 4

“…This agrees with the study which was done by Cotler [35] who stated that there was no correlation between SVR and baseline of serum levels of interleukin-6. In contrast to, Nattermann [36] and Faisal [37] who stated that serum level of IL-6 was higher in group who achieved SVR than those who did not and this could be used as a response predictor.…”