Efficacy of Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin Combination Therapy in Chronic Hepatitis C and Influence of Lipid Factors

Abstract

It is well known that combination therapy with interferon (IFN) and ribavirin may not achieve the full therapeutic effect in patients with high-titers(≥100 KIU/mL) for hepatitis C virus genotype 1 b.Further,high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels are reported to be a significant indicator of the potential therapeutic effect of IFN in hepatitis C patients,though this is still controversial.In this study,we examined the serum levels of various lipids - comprising LDL-C,total-cholesterol (T-Cho),triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C)-before and after combination therapy with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin in chronic hepatitis C patients.In an end of treatment response group (ETR) group,TG levels prior to the start of the therapy were significantly lower than those in a no response (NR) group,while there were no differences in LDL-C,T-Cho and HDL-C levels between the two groups.In a sustained virological response (SVR) group,TG levels were also significantly lower than those of the NR group.These findings suggest that serum TG levels may be a significant predictive factor for the outcome of combined therapy with PEG-IFN and ribavirin in chronic hepatitis C patients.