Diabetes mellitus reduces the therapeutic effectiveness of interferon-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Aim: Patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) often have diabetes mellitus (DM). However, it is unknown whether DM affects patient response to interferon (IFN) plus ribavirin therapy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the influence of DM on the outcome of IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy.

In vivo immunization by vaccine therapy following virus suppression by lamivudine: a novel approach for treating patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Background: Both the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the immune response of the hosts to HBV play important roles in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Lamivudine is a potent antiviral agent with minimal immune modulator capacity. Moreover, lamivudine causes severe side effects like breakthrough of HBV DNA and breakthrough hepatitis in patients with CHB.