A 54-year-old African-American woman developed a pigmented papillary squamous cell carcinoma in the palpebral and bulbar conjunctiva of the right eye in areas that received no sun exposure. In situ hybridization performed on the tumor showed human papilloma virus 16. The left eye showed a pedunculated nonpigmented conjunctival dysplasia. The tumors were extirpated by cryosurgery and topical int...

A new case of IgE myeloma is described. A 77-year-old woman presented with bone pain and fatigue. Serum protein analysis revealed a paraprotein of the IgE kappa type; bone marrow aspirate and immunofluorescence confirmed the diagnosis; ultrastructural examination showed immature plasma cells. Treatment with prednisone, melphalan, cyclophosphamide and interferon alfa did not produce any improvem...

Until HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitors become available at the end of 2011, the combination pegylated-interferon (PEG-IFN)-alfa and ribavirin (RBV) will remain the standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C patients. In some hepatitis C virus-infected patients, PEG-IFN plus RBV treatment against HCV should continue to be used because of side effects of new drugs such as anemia. Our Japanese exper...

UNLABELLED Alpha interferon is the only licensed drug for hepatitis B with immunomodulatory as well as viral inhibitory properties. Potential advantages of interferon compared to nucleoside analogs include a lack of drug resistance, a finite and defined treatment course, and a higher likelihood for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) clearance. Approximately 30% of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)...

In an analysis of the clinical and laboratory variables that can influence the response to interferon alfa-2b treatment, 48 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection received interferon 5 million units (MU) subcutaneously three times weekly for eight weeks followed by 3 MU three times weekly for seven months. Response related factors on univariate analysis were found to be age > 40 year...

The addition of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitors telaprevir and boceprevir to peginterferon alfa with ribavirin therapy has increased cure rates in HCV infection. Numerous other direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are in advanced stages of development, including next-generation protease inhibitors, nonstructural protein (NS) 5A inhibitors, and nonnucleoside and nucleos(t)ide NS5B pol...

To the Editor We read with interest the case report “Development of Sarcoidosis during Etanercept Therapy” by Ishiguro et al (1). We believe that this case can highlight the importance of the CD4+-cell-dependent type 1 helper T (Th 1) response in sarcoidosis and we would like to add several studies of interest to their discussion. Prior to the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, new...

BACKGROUND Multiple treatments are available for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. PURPOSE To compare benefits and harms of antiviral regimens for chronic HCV infection in treatment-naive adults. DATA SOURCES English-language literature from MEDLINE (1947 to August 2012), the Cochrane Library Database, Embase, Scopus, PsychINFO, and clinical trial registries. STUDY SELECTION Rand...

IFN-a: interferon alfa LTT: lymphocyte transportation test TNF-a: tumor necrosis factorealfa T umor necrosis factor alfa (TNF-a) antagonists are commonly used to treat inflammatory disorders and are considered particularly effective in the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis. Paradoxically, however, new-onset occurrence orworsening of psoriasis has been increasingly recognized among patie...