AIMS Despite the remarkable efficacy shown in clinical practice, concerns have been raised about the costs associated with direct antiviral agent (DAA) therapy. This article presents the real-life costs for DAA treatment sustained by the Italian National Health Service in the Liguria Region (Northern Italy). METHODS A retrospective analysis of the cost per care sustained for DAA treatment, re...

BACKGROUND In vitro, vitamin B12 acts as a natural inhibitor of hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication. OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of vitamin B12 on virological response in patients with chronic HCV hepatitis naïve to antiviral therapy. METHODS Ninety-four patients with chronic HCV hepatitis were randomly assigned to receive pegylated interferon α plus ribavirin (standard-of-care; SOC) or ...

OBJECTIVE To determine compliance and improvement in sustained viral response (SVR) by following response guided therapy (RGT) plan of interferon and ribavirin, for genotype 3 in chronic hepatitis C. METHODS Patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 3, who were eligible for interferon-ribavirin therapy and consented for RGT, were included. Those with no rapid viral response (RVR), having coa...

which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The sustained virological response (SVR) of the combination of both pegylated interferon alfa (PegIFN) and ribavirin (RBV) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is heterogeneous. 1 The therapeutic approach has been more individualized to...

AIM To investigate peg-interferon (peg-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) therapy in Myanmar and to predict sustained virologic response (SVR). METHODS This single-center, open-label, study was conducted in Myanmar between 2009 and 2014. A total of 288 patients infected with HCV genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 6 were treated with peg-IFN alpha-2a (180 μg/wk) or alpha-2b (50 to 100 μg as a weight-based dose) and ...

BACKGROUND In chronic hepatitis C, higher ribavirin (RBV) concentrations are associated with sustained virological response (SVR); target concentration cutoffs have been proposed. As RBV displays interindividual variability, monitoring of RBV plasma levels appears relevant. The impact of RBV therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM(RBV)) on SVR has not been explored in current practice. Our study aimed...

BACKGROUND HBV/HCV coinfection is a common finding among hemodialysis patients. However, there is scarce information concerning the impact of HBV coinfection on the response to treatment of HCV-infected patients on hemodialysis. AIM We aimed to compare the rate of sustained virologic response (SVR) to treatment with interferon-alfa (IFN) between hemodialysis patients with HBV/HCV coinfection ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Several studies have demonstrated that serum interferon-γ-inducible-protein-10 (IP-10) levels at baseline and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the IL28B gene were associated with viral response and treatment outcomes. Our purpose was to assess the combination of pretreatment IP-10 levels with IL28B SNPs as predictors of treatment response to pegylated interferon α-2a ...

Aim. We analyzed the pretreatment natural killer (NK) cell functions with the aim of predicting the sustained virological response (SVR) or the interleukin (IL) 28B polymorphism that is strongly associated with the treatment response. Methods. The peripheral NK cells from chronic hepatitis patients with HCV genotype 1 and high virus titers were activated using a Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 ligan...

BACKGROUND The role of interleukin 28B (IL-28B) polymorphisms played in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been gradually explicit, especially in HCV genotype 1, 2 and 3. However, no confirmative conclusion was acquired in genotype 4 HCV patients. Thus we conducted this meta-analysis. METHODS We searched the commonly used databases both in English and Chinese. Meta-analysis was performed i...