OBJECTIVE To characterize thyroid disturbances induced by interferon-alpha and ribavirin therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C. INTRODUCTION Interferon-alpha is used to treat chronic hepatitis C infections. This compound commonly induces both autoimmune and non-autoimmune thyroiditis. METHODS We prospectively selected 26 patients with chronic hepatitis C infections. Clinical examinat...

Viral replication, as well as an immunopathological component, is assumed to be involved in coxsackie B virus-induced myocarditis. We evaluated the efficacy of the interferon inducer Ampligen on coxsackie B3 virus-induced myocarditis in C3H/HeNHsd mice. The efficacy of Ampligen was compared with that of the interferon inducer poly(inosinic acid)-poly(cytidylic acid) [poly(IC)], alpha interferon...

The antiproliferative effect of human fibroblast interferon (IFN-beta), human recombinant leukocyte interferon (IFN-alpha A), and polyinosinic . polycytidylic acid [poly(I) . poly(C)] was investigated in human colon carcinoma cell line HT-29. Exposure of HT-29 cells for 1 to 3 days with 100 to 2000 units of either interferon preparation resulted in a 30 to 50% inhibition of growth after 3 days....

The benefit of the triple therapy (interferon + amantadine + ribavirim) is still unknown. The efficacy of induction doses of interferon-alpha-2a monotherapy or in combination with ribavirin and/or amantadine was evaluated in interferon non-responders with chronic hepatitis C. A total of 378 patients were randomized. All the groups received the same doses and duration of interferon-alpha-2a: (i)...

PI 3-kinase, an enzyme responsible for the phosphorylation of the D3 position of the inositol ring of phosphatidylinositol (PI), is recognized to be involved in the regulation of many cellular processes such as mitogenic signalling, inhibition of apoptosis, intracellular vesicle trafficking/secretion, regulation of actin and integrin functions and regulation of protein kinases induced by tumour...

Tyrosine kinases of the Janus kinase family initiate cellular responses through their association with receptors for alpha-helical cytokines. In addition to a tyrosine kinase domain, these enzymes possess a kinase-like (KL) domain, whose function remains elusive. To investigate the role of the KL domain of Tyk2 in interferon-alpha/beta signaling, we transfected a library of Tyk2 cDNAs containin...

Systemic treatment modalities for eradication of multiple therapy resistant genital warts are so far not available. In this study laser treated patients with multiple genital warts received postoperatively either interferon alpha-2b subcutaneously (s.c.) 5 x 10' IU or matching placebo three times weekly for four weeks. At the conclusion of the study, 6-8 weeks after discontinuation of therapy, ...

The treatment of chronic hepatitis C has made remarkable progress over the past two decades. For interferon-alpha monotherapy, sustained virological response rates were between 2 and 9% in genotype 1 and between 16 and 23% in genotypes 2 and 3. By adjusting treatment duration up to 48 weeks for genotype 1 and combining regular interferon-alpha with ribavirin, sustained response rates could be i...

Two members of the signal transducer and activator of transcription family, STAT1 and STAT2, form, together with interferon regulatory factor 9 (IRF-9), the ISGF3 complex that activates the expression of the interferon-stimulated genes (ISG). The ISGF3 complex also participates in the virus-induced alpha/beta interferon (IFN-alpha/beta) gene amplification cascade by up-regulating IRF-7 gene exp...