Hepatitis C virus kinetics during induction and standard 3 times a week interferon-alpha therapy

We studied HCV kinetics during the first 84 d of interferon-alpha (IFN) treatment. IFN was administered either at a dose of 3 million units daily for the first 14 d and thereafter 3 times per week (t.i.w.) (induction treatment), or at a dose of 3 million units t.i.w. throughout (standard treatment). No patient had received HCV treatment previously, and all had a pretreatment viral load of < 1.2 x 10(6) IU/ml at screening. Ten patients were given induction treatment and 21 received the standard t.i.w. regimen. Twenty patients were infected with genotype 1. At Day 2, the median HCV RNA level in the induction group was significantly lower compared to that of the standard treatment group. This significant difference persisted during the study period for patients infected with genotype 1, but was not maintained from Day 14 onwards for patients with genotype non-1. At Day 84, 80% (8/10) of patients in the induction group, compared to 16% (3/19) in the standard treatment group, had undetectable (< 600 IU/ml) HCV RNA levels (p < 0.05). We conclude that induction treatment resulted in a significantly greater decline in HCV RNA levels than standard treatment.