[2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from patients with chronic hepatitis B during interferon therapy].

The activities of 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase (2-5AS) in spleen and liver extracts obtained from mice treated with recombinant mouse interferon-beta (rMuIFN-beta) were investigated. The levels of the enzyme activity increased significantly in both spleen and liver extracts for 72 hours after the treatment with rMuIFN-beta (5 X 10(4)IU). The levels of the enzyme activity in spleen extracts correlated well with those in liver extracts. Therefore it is suggested that the assay of 2-5AS activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is useful for monitoring the antiviral state of liver during IFN therapy. The activities of 2-5AS in PBMC obtained from patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were significantly higher than those of healthy controls, resulting from the endogenous IFNs detected in the patients with CHB. Furthermore, the enzyme activities of PBMC in the patients with CHB increased significantly during IFN therapy as compared with IFN-untreated patients. This increase in the enzyme levels during IFN therapy correlated well with the decrease of DNA-polymerase (DNA-P) activities associated with HBV. These results indicate that the assay of 2-5AS detected in PBMC from the patients is valuable to determine the optimal IFN therapy for CHB.