AIM To investigate the association between interferon-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats 1 (IFIT1) polymorphisms and interferon-α (IFNα) treatment efficiency among Chinese hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection patients. METHODS Two hundred and twenty five newly diagnosed chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients were enrolled in the study. All of these patients received IFNα treatment for a ...

The hepatitis C virus genotype 4 (HCV-4) is prevalent in Egypt, the Middle East and Africa. Recently, the epidemiology of HCV-4 has changed and this genotype has begun to cross borders and spread to several regions in Europe through immigration and injection drug use. HCV-4 has been considered a difficult-to-treat genotype based on the low sustained virological response (SVR) rates obtained wit...

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of antiviral therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C is far from ideal and presents several adverse events. Among such events, there is the depressive episode that can even lead to treatment discontinuity. OBJECTIVE Analyze the incidence of depressive episodes in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with pegylated interferon (I...

OBJECTIVE To determine factors influencing response of interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients. STUDY DESIGN Descriptive, analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Pakistan Medical Research Centre, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from January 1998 to December 2009. METHODOLOGY Patients of chronic hepatitis C treated with conventional interferon were retrospecti...

The efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon monotherapy in patients with chronic renal failure and chronic hepatitis C remains unclear, although a number of small clinical trials have been published addressing this issue. A systematic review of the literature with a meta-analysis of clinical trials was performed in order to assess efficacy and safety of initial pegylated interferon monother...

BACKGROUND The response rates and duration of peginterferon alpha (PEG-IFN-alpha) and ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C genotype 4, the prevalent genotype in the Middle East and Africa, are poorly documented. AIMS To compare the efficacy and safety of 24, 36, or 48 weeks of PEG-IFN-alpha-2b and ribavirin therapy in chronic hepatitis C genotype 4. METHODS In this prospecti...

CONTEXT Abnormal serum ferritin levels are found in approximately 20%-30% of the patients with chronic hepatitis C and are associated with a lower response rate to interferon therapy. OBJECTIVE To determine if the presence of HFE gene mutations had any effect on the sustained virological response rate to interferon based therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients with elevated serum ferritin. ...

OBJECTIVE To compare metformin and pioglitazone with standard interferon and ribavirin in achieving sustained virological response in chronic hepatitis C patients. METHODS This quasi-experimental, comparative, interventional study was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from January 2015 to March 2016, and comprised chronic hepatitis C patients who had insulin resistance. The patien...