Interferon therapy in the chronic aggressive viral hepatitis

The effects of interferon (INT) therapy in the chronic aggressive hepatitis of viral origin (CAVH) are critically reviewed. The main factor which favours the progress of acute viral hepatitis to chronic forms is the persistence of viral replication in conditions of immune deficit of the host. INT has antiviral, immunomodulating and antitumoral action. The INT alpha class proved to be the most adequate for the CAVH treatment. Many recent clinical trials have demonstrated the INT alpha effectiveness in CAVH. The results of such studies are separately analysed for each hepatitis virus. The importance of various factors, i.e., dose, treatment duration, race, sex, age, histologic lesions, ALAT level, viral DNA titer, associations with adenine-arabinoside, acyclovir, corticosteroids, a.o., is discussed in relation with the rate of therapeutic response and the risk of viral infection recurrences.