Cho H J, Dong S H, Lee M S, Kim H Y, Park C K, Yoo J Y, Polito A, Quan S, Han J H
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, Korea.
Korean J Intern Med. 1992 Jan;7(1):13-7. doi: 10.3904/kjim.1992.7.1.13.
After the discovery of type C hepatitis virus, the studies on this virus are extensively progressing. The treatment of this viral infection is also widely progressing. Among many agents, recombinant interferon alpha therapy is generally accepted as an effective single agent. To evaluate the efficacy of interferon and to observe the changes of serum aminotransferase (ALT), antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) and HCV ribonucleic acid (HCV-RNA), we treated 10 patients with chronic type C hepatitis for 6 months.
Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: 5 patients in group A received interferon and the other 5 in group B received no therapy. Interferon was administered at a dose of 3 million units (MU) daily for the first month and thrice weekly for the following 5 months, and followed up for 2 years.
In group A, serum ALT returned to normal in 4: 3, starting at the first month and one at the 3rd month of therapy and maintained normal throughout the follow-up period. In contrast, serum ALT level persistently fluctuated in 4 patients in group B. In one patient, serum ALT returned to normal one and a half years later. Regardless of therapy, serum anti-HCV titer remained unchanged in all patients. However, HCV-RNA, using polymerized chain reaction (PCR), became undetectable in all responded patients and in one untreated patient whose serum ALT returned to normal spontaneously.
This study suggested that interferon alpha therapy in patients with chronic type C hepatitis may be clinically effective. Our study also indicated that the detection of HCV-RNA by PCR is useful to predict the prognosis of chronic type C hepatitis.
丙型肝炎病毒被发现后，针对该病毒的研究进展迅速。针对这种病毒感染的治疗也在广泛推进。在众多药物中，重组干扰素α疗法被普遍认为是一种有效的单一药物。为评估干扰素的疗效并观察血清转氨酶（ALT）、丙型肝炎病毒抗体（抗-HCV）和丙型肝炎病毒核糖核酸（HCV-RNA）的变化，我们对10例慢性丙型肝炎患者进行了为期6个月的治疗。
患者被随机分为2组：A组5例患者接受干扰素治疗，B组另外5例患者不接受治疗。干扰素在第一个月每日剂量为300万单位（MU），在接下来的5个月每周三次，并随访2年。
在A组中，4例患者的血清ALT在治疗的第一个月开始恢复正常，3例在第3个月恢复正常，并在整个随访期间保持正常。相比之下，B组的4例患者血清ALT水平持续波动。1例患者血清ALT在一年半后恢复正常。无论是否接受治疗，所有患者的血清抗-HCV滴度均保持不变。然而，使用聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测，所有有反应的患者以及1例未经治疗但血清ALT自发恢复正常的患者的HCV-RNA均无法检测到。
本研究表明，干扰素α疗法对慢性丙型肝炎患者可能具有临床疗效。我们的研究还表明，通过PCR检测HCV-RNA有助于预测慢性丙型肝炎的预后。
