Comparative responses to three different types of interferon-alpha in patients with chronic hepatitis C

We investigated the efficacy and tolerability of three different types of interferon-alpha, administered with the same schedule to naive patients with chronic hepatitis C. One hundred and seven patients with histologically proven chronic hepatitis C were enrolled during a period of three years and randomly divided into three groups, to receive (a) leukocyte-interferon-alpha, 6 MU three times a week for 4 months, followed by 3 MU three times a week for 8 months (Group I); (b) recombinant-IFN-alpha-2a, with the same schedule (Group II); and (c) lymphoblastoid-IFN-alpha-N1, with the same schedule (Group III). All patients were followed-up for 6 months to evaluate the long-term response. The 'Complete Response' rates at the end of treatment were: 50%, 46.1% and 41.6%, in Groups I, II and III, respectively; most patients relapsed after the end of therapy, so that the 'sustained responders' were, after 6 months of follow-up, 18.7%, 23.1% and 19.4%, respectively. Analysis of pre-treatment variables showed that age, ALT and gamma GT serum levels, as well as the prevalence of liver cirrhosis, were lower in the 'sustained responder' group. Four patients were eliminated from the study because of severe adverse events: 1, 2 and 1, in Groups I, II and III, respectively. Our results indicate a similar response rate with the three different types of interferon-alpha, although at baseline, age, serum levels of gamma globulins and the number of patients with cirrhosis-possible negative-risk factors, were higher in Group I.