Background: There is yet no established treatment for chronic hepatitis C patients non-responder to standard interferon and ribavirin.
Aim: To evaluate efficacy and safety of pegylated-interferon-alpha2a plus ribavirin with or without amantadine in such patients.
Methods: 161 non-responders to standard interferon and ribavirin were randomized into two groups: 81 patients (Group 1) were given weekly Peg-IFN-alpha2a 180 microg plus ribavirin 1,000-1,200 mg/daily for 12 months, 80 patients (Group 2) received weekly Peg-IFN-alpha2a 180 microg plus ribavirin 1,000-1,200 mg/daily and amantadine 200 mg/daily for 12 months.
Results: At the end of follow-up, HCV-RNA was negative in 29.6% of Group 1 and in 21.2% of Group 2 patients (P = 0.22). Patients with genotypes 1 and 4 responded better to bi-therapy (21.7%) than to triple therapy (17.3%, P = 0.5) while among patients with genotypes 2 and 3 there was a trend towards a higher sustained virological response rate when retreated with triple treatment (80% vs. 75%, P = 0.82). On multivariate analysis, genotype 1 or 4, high body mass index and >20% reduction of Peg-interferon were associated with the treatment failure.
Conclusions: The addition of amantadine does not improve the overall SVR rate in non-responder patients retreated with Peg-IFN and ribavirin; however, about 30% of non-responders may achieve a sustained response, in particular patients with genotypes 2 and 3 show a high SVR (75%).
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2036.2006.03098.x | DOI Listing |
Infect Disord Drug Targets
January 2025
National Medical Research Center of Phthisiopulmonology and Infectious Diseases, Russian Ministry of Health, 4 Dostoyevskogo St., bldg 2, Moscow, 127473, Russia.
Background: In this article, we present the results of a multicenter clinical trial of IFN-γ in patients with drug-susceptible and drug-resistant pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB) in routine clinical practice.
Objective: This study aimed to confirm the efficacy and safety of IFN-γ administered to patients with TB.
Methods: All patients were diagnosed with TB after being tested by bacterioscopic and molecular genetic methods and had no contraindications to standard chemotherapy.
J Mater Sci Mater Med
January 2025
Institute of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Macrophage metabolism is closely linked to their phenotype and function, which is why there is growing interest in studying the metabolic reprogramming of macrophages. Bioactive glass (BG) S53P4 is a bioactive material used especially in bone applications. Additionally, BG S53P4 has been shown to affect macrophages, but the mechanisms through which the possible immunomodulatory effects are conveyed remain unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Rheumatol
January 2025
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Huangyan Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Taizhou First People's Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China.
The aim of this study was to determine serum I-309 levels in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) patients, as well as the association with disease phenotype, systemic activity, and T helper cell-related cytokines. A total of 58 pSS patients and 30 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled in this study. The concentrations of serum I-309, interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6, IL-9, IL-13, IL-17, IL-22, IL-23, tumor-necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), IFN-α, and IFN-β were measured with multiplex immunoassay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neuroinflammation
January 2025
Department of Neurology, Center for Medical Research on Innovation and Translation, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
Abnormality in transactivating response region DNA binding protein 43 (TDP43) is well-recognized as the pathological hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the role of TDP43 in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) remains unknown. Here, our observations demonstrate an upregulation of TDP43 in both in vitro and in vivo models of NMOSD, as well as in biological samples from NMOSD patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRMD Open
January 2025
Department of Neuromuscular Diseases, University College London, London, UK
Objective: To identify the best evidence on the efficacy of treatment interventions for inclusion body myositis (IBM) and to describe their safety.
Methods: Systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of pharmacological treatments of adults with IBM, conducted according to the Cochrane Handbook, updating a previous Cochrane review. The search strategy was run on Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group Specialized Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE and EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.
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