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Human Liver Microphysiological System for Assessing Drug-Induced Liver Toxicity In Vitro
Published on: January 31, 2022
Pioglitazone in chronic hepatitis C not responding to pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin
Kathrin Overbeck1, Daniel Genné, Alain Golay
1Division of Clinical Pathology, University Hospital, 24 rue Micheli-du-Crest, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Background/Aims:
Insulin resistance reduces the response to interferon alfa-based therapy of chronic hepatitis C patients. It has been speculated that improvement of insulin sensitivity might increase the chances of responding to treatment of such individuals.
Methods:
We started a multicenter clinical trial of retreatment of chronic hepatitis C patients, who had failed to respond to the pegylated interferon alfa/ribavirin combination, with a triple therapy consisting in these same antivirals plus an insulin-sensitizer (pioglitazone) (The INSPIRED-HCV study).
Results:
None of the first five patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria and included in the trial achieved a satisfactory virological response after 12 weeks of retreatment, despite the fact that in at least three of them the insulin resistance score improved. As a result, the study was terminated.
Conclusions:
Different schedules are warranted to improve insulin sensitivity prior to attempting retreatment of chronic hepatitis C patients with insulin resistance.
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