Antiviral Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection. I. Changes in Viral Markers with Interferon Combined with Adenine Arabinoside
- 31 May 1981
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in The Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 143 (6), 772-783
- https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/143.6.772
Abstract
Twenty patients with chronic active hepatitis and 12 patients with chronic persistent hepatitis associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection were treated with human leukocyte interferon or adenine arabinoside alone or in combination. With interferon alone, four of 16 patients showed a permanent disappearance of HBV-associated DNA polymerase (DNAP) activity from serum. Of six patients treated with adenine arabinoside alone, only one patient became permanently DNAP-negative. With a regimen of multiple cycles of combined interferon and adenine arabinoside, seven of 16 male patients became permanently DNAP-negative. Of 69 patients who met the criteria for admission to the program, spontaneous decreases in DNAP activity without treatment were observed in only 9% during a mean observation period of 10 months. In general, patients with chronic active hepatitis, those who are female, and those with a history of recent steroid therapy responded to the antiviral agents significantly better than did the other patients.Keywords
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