Pegylated interferon alpha (PEG IFN-alpha) improves sustained virological response rates in chronic hepatitis C, but neither its role in acute hepatitis C nor the biologic basis for its action has been defined. This prospective study assessed the efficacy of PEG IFN-alpha treatment in acute hepatitis C in relation to the kinetics of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific CD4(+) T cell responses during therapy and follow-up. Forty subjects with proven acute hepatitis C who received either PEG IFN-alpha plus ribavirin (n = 20) or PEG IFN-alpha monotherapy (n = 20) for 24 weeks in addition to 14 untreated subjects with acute hepatitis C were prospectively followed.
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