Abstract
A 51-year-old female with chronic hepatitis C was observed who developed type 1 diabetes mellitus after 40 weeks of treatment with recombinant alpha-2b pegylated interferon (PEGIFN) combined with ribavirin. She was subsequently well controlled with insulin administration. Serum samples were collected before the start of antiviral therapy and at week 40 when the patient was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus. The value of glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (anti-GAD ab) was less than 1.5U/ml and 714U/ml, respectively. Her anti-GAD ab remained high after the antiviral treatment was withdrawn. Another observed case was a 58-year-old male with chronic hepatitis C whose anti-GAD ab was positive before the therapy. He did not develop diabetes mellitus during and after treatment with PEGIFN combined with ribavirin. It is difficult to make prediction about who develop type 1 diabates mellitus with this therapy using anti-GAD ab.Therefore, we clinicians should be aware the importance of follow-up for cases of type 1 diabetes mellitus as a serious side-effect during or after the therapy with IFN and/or ribavirin.
