Division of Therapeutic Proteins, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Trends Immunol. 2011 Sep;32(9):443-50. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2011.07.002. Epub 2011 Aug 5.
Interferon (IFN)-α, a type-I IFN, is widely used to treat chronic hepatitis C virus infection, but the broad expression of IFN-α receptors often leads to adverse reactions in many organs. Here, we examine IFN-λ, a type-III IFN, as a therapeutic alternative to IFN-α. Like IFN-α, IFN-λ also induces antiviral activity in hepatocytes, but might induce fewer adverse reactions because its receptor is largely restricted to cells of epithelial origin. We also discuss the recent discovery of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the human IFN-λ3 gene, IL28B, that correlate strongly with the ability to achieve a sustained virological response to therapy with pegylated IFN-α plus ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
干扰素（IFN）-α 是一种 I 型干扰素，被广泛用于治疗慢性丙型肝炎病毒感染，但 IFN-α 受体的广泛表达往往会导致许多器官的不良反应。在这里，我们研究了 III 型干扰素 IFN-λ，它可以作为 IFN-α 的治疗替代物。与 IFN-α 一样，IFN-λ 也能诱导肝细胞产生抗病毒活性，但由于其受体主要局限于上皮来源的细胞，可能引起的不良反应较少。我们还讨论了最近在人类 IFN-λ3 基因（IL28B）附近发现的单核苷酸多态性（SNP），这些 SNP 与聚乙二醇化 IFN-α 联合利巴韦林治疗慢性丙型肝炎患者持续病毒学应答的能力密切相关。
