Unité de Virologie Clinique et Fondamentale, EA 4294, Université Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2012 Feb;56(2):903-8. doi: 10.1128/AAC.05646-11. Epub 2011 Nov 28.
The current treatment of chronic hepatitis C is based on pegylated alpha interferon (PEG-IFN-α) and ribavirin. The aim of this study was to identify biological and clinical variables related to IFN therapy that could predict patient outcome. The study enrolled 47 patients treated with PEG-IFN and ribavirin combined therapy. The interferon concentration was measured in serum by a bioassay. The expression of 93 interferon-regulated genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was quantified by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) before and after 1 month of treatment. The interferon concentration in the serum was significantly lower in nonresponders than in sustained virological responders. Moreover, a significant correlation was identified between interferon concentration and interferon exposition as well as body weight. The analysis of interferon-inducible genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells among the genes tested did not permit the prediction of treatment outcome. In conclusion, the better option seems to be to treat patients with weight-adjusted PEG-IFN doses, particularly for patients with high weight who are treated with PEG-IFN-α2a. Although the peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples are the easiest to obtain, the measurement of interferon-inducible genes seems not be the best strategy to predict treatment outcome.
目前慢性丙型肝炎的治疗基于聚乙二醇干扰素（PEG-IFN-α）和利巴韦林。本研究旨在确定与 IFN 治疗相关的生物学和临床变量，以预测患者的预后。该研究纳入了 47 例接受 PEG-IFN 和利巴韦林联合治疗的患者。通过生物测定法测量血清中的干扰素浓度。用实时定量逆转录-PCR（RT-PCR）在治疗 1 个月前后定量外周血单个核细胞中 93 个干扰素调节基因的表达。血清中干扰素浓度在无应答者中明显低于持续病毒学应答者。此外，干扰素浓度与干扰素暴露和体重之间存在显著相关性。在测试的基因中，对干扰素诱导基因的分析不能预测治疗结果。总之，似乎最好的选择是根据体重调整 PEG-IFN 剂量治疗患者，尤其是对于体重较高的患者，因为他们接受的是 PEG-IFN-α2a 治疗。尽管外周血单个核细胞样本最容易获得，但测量干扰素诱导基因似乎不是预测治疗结果的最佳策略。
