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  • Title: Alpha but not beta interferon is useful in chronic active hepatitis due to hepatitis C virus. A prospective, double-blind, randomized study.
    Author: Villa E, Trande P, Grottola A, Buttafoco P, Rebecchi AM, Stroffolini T, Callea F, Merighi A, Camellini L, Zoboli P, Cosenza R, Miglioli L, Loria P, Iori R, Carulli N, Manenti F.
    Journal: Dig Dis Sci; 1996 Jun; 41(6):1241-7. PubMed ID: 8654159.
    Abstract:
    Interferon-alpha has been widely used in chronic hepatitis C, but controlled studies with intramuscular interferon-beta are lacking. We therefore performed a prospective, double-blind, randomized study comparing intramuscular IFN-alpha and -beta in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Sixty patients were randomly assigned to receive 3 MU thrice weekly intramuscularly of either recombinant IFN-alpha or leukocyte IFN-alpha or fibroblast IFN-beta for six months. Nine of 20 patients (45.0%) in the recombinant IFN, 5/19 (26.3%) in the leukocyte IFN, and none in the IFN-beta group had a complete response during therapy (recombinant IFN vs IFN-beta: P < 0.01). Only in IFN-alpha-treated patients, was infection with a single HCV genotype (type 2a or 2b) associated with significantly better long-term outcome. IFN-alpha is useful in chronic hepatitis C while intramuscular IFN-beta interferon does not exert any beneficial effect. This is probably due to an insufficient bioavailability of IFN-beta when given intramuscularly.
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