Department of Internal Medicine, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Gut Liver. 2007 Jun;1(1):87-9. doi: 10.5009/gnl.2007.1.1.87. Epub 2007 Jun 30.
Combination therapy with inteferon-alpha and ribavirin is an approved therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C. However, even with the use of pegylated interferon, response rates are still poor in many difficult-to-treat groups, especially with genotype 1 and high viral loads. Retreatment of these patients remains challenging. Newer combinations are being investigated to optimize chances of attaining a sustained response in these groups. Thymosin alpha 1 is a polypeptide with immunomodulatory properties that has been suggested to increase response rates in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Herein, we describe two cases of retreatment patients with chronic hepatitis C who have failed prior pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy. They received triple combination therapies of thymosin alpha 1, pegylated interferon and ribavirin and achieved sustained virological responses. These cases support that thymosin-alpha 1 may increase the efficacy of pegylated interferon plus ribavirin in the treatment of non-responders to previous combination therapy.
干扰素-α和利巴韦林联合治疗是慢性丙型肝炎患者的一种已批准的治疗方法。然而，即使使用聚乙二醇干扰素，在许多难以治疗的人群中，反应率仍然很差，尤其是基因型 1 和高病毒载量的患者。这些患者的再治疗仍然具有挑战性。正在研究新的联合疗法，以优化这些人群获得持续反应的机会。胸腺肽α 1 是一种具有免疫调节特性的多肽，有人提出它可以提高慢性丙型肝炎患者的反应率。在此，我们描述了两例慢性丙型肝炎再治疗患者，他们之前已接受过聚乙二醇干扰素和利巴韦林治疗但失败了。他们接受了胸腺肽α 1、聚乙二醇干扰素和利巴韦林的三联疗法，获得了持续病毒学应答。这些病例支持胸腺肽-α 1 可能提高聚乙二醇干扰素加利巴韦林治疗先前联合治疗无应答者的疗效。
