C型慢性肝炎に対するインターフェロン療法の治療成績(Ⅱ)

Abstract

Interferon (IFN) is the only drug that has been approved by the FDA for therapy of chronic hepatitis C. We conducted a trial of IFN therapy for chronic hepatitis C. Eighty-eight patients with chronic hepatitis C were enrolled for the IFN trial. Either 9 million units (MU) of recombinant IFN α-2a (rIFN) or 6 MU of Iymphoblastoid IFNα (nIFN) was administered daily for 4 weeks and then three times a week for 22 weeks. IFN therapy was interrupted in 11 patients due to adverse reaction to IFN. In addition, a course of observation including blood sampling was not enough to analyze IFN response in 21 subjects. Therefore, IFN response was evaluated in the remaining 56 patients. Complete response (CR), defined as sustained normalization of serum transaminase values for more than 6 months after the treatment, was obtained in 18 (32.1%). The CR rate in the present IFN trial did not differ significantly from that (28.4%) in our previous IFN trial which either 9 MU of rIFN or 3 MU of nIFN was administered daily for 2 weeks and then three times a week for 22 weeks, suggesting that an increase in the total dose of interferon failed to yield further benefit in patients with chronic hepatitis C.