Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019158 (hepatitis)
 30,205 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Post-transfusion hepatitis (PTH) is a major problem in patients with acute leukemias requiring blood products during induction or consolidation therapy. In fact, PTH causes delays of chemotherapy with major violations in the timing of protocols. In order to assess the efficacy and safety of a short course of alpha-interferon (alpha-IFN) in inducing early remission of PTH, we treated seven patients who developed acute hepatitis during a post-remissional phase of AML. Patients received 3 MU of alpha-IFN i.m. three times weekly for one month. One patient stopped alpha-IFN at 2 weeks because of severe itching, after ALT normalization. Five out of 6 subjects normalized ALT within a mean time of two weeks. Minor side effects were observed in 2 cases. Three patients relapsed within eight weeks after stopping alpha-IFN. They underwent a second remission upon treatment with the same schedule. All patients continued their treatment protocol for AML without delay.
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PMID:Recombinant interferon alpha-2B for acute post-transfusion hepatitis in acute myeloid leukemia. 180 50

Patients with chronic active B hepatitis entered into an open study of IFN maintenance therapy. They received 3 x 10(6) I.U. INTRON-A by subcutaneous injection three times a week for a 4-month period. Four patients out of ten became HBeAg negative and anti-HBe, which was accompanied by the return of serum liver function tests to normal. In a control group with eleven patients, given only vitamins, no changes were registered in serological and biochemical data. Fever, "flu-like illness", fatigue were the main side-effects observed during the course of IFN therapy, which had not to be discontinued.
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PMID:Management of chronic active B hepatitis with alpha interferon. 181 24

IFN-alpha was administered intermittently over a 6 month period in 39 patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis confirmed by peritoneoscopy and liver biopsy. Three million units of IFN-alpha were administered 3 times a week for the first 6 months then twice, then once a week. In 26 patients (67%), GPT decreased and remained within the normal range during the course of administration, and in 9 patients (23%) GPT remained normal for over 6 months after the discontinuation of IFN-alpha. There was no significant difference of efficacy among 3 groups liver histology groups (CPH, CAH-2A, and CAH-2B), but GPT decreased significantly in patients with sporadic hepatitis compared to patients with a history of blood transfusion. Furthermore, GPT decreased significantly in patients with a history of a blood transfusion within the preceding 2 years compared to patients with a history of a blood transfusion over 7 years ago. GPT increased markedly after an early tapering to 2 doses weekly, but it did not increase after a 6 month administration. In conclusion, the long-term administration of 300 million unit IFN-alpha, 3 times weekly for 6 months, about 2.5 hundred million units in total, is thought to be an effective way to control chronic NANB hepatitis.
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PMID:Long-term intermittent administration of interferon-alpha in patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis. 190 37

The occurrence of antibodies against recombinant human interferon-alpha 2a (IFN-alpha 2a) in patients with acute viral hepatitis (AVH) was examined by ELISA. Naturally occurring IgG anti-IFN-alpha 2a were found in 50% of patients with type A, 50% of those with type B and in 8.3% of those with non-A, non-B AVH. The corresponding frequencies of IgM antibodies were 80%, 30% and 33.3%, respectively. IgM anti-IFN-alpha 2a were found more frequently in patients with AVH type A than in normal control subjects (P less than 0.01). Anti-IFN-alpha 2a were detectable at the highest frequency 3 weeks after acute onset and then became negative. An absorption experiment revealed that IgM anti-IFN-alpha 2a did not cross-react with recombinant human IFN-alpha 2b. Immunoblotting analysis confirmed the binding of antibodies to IFN-alpha 2a. Sera positive for IgG and/or IgM anti-IFN-alpha 2a were unable to neutralize IFN-alpha 2a. The appearance of anti-IFN-alpha 2a was not correlated with disease severity. There was no evidence to suggest that anti-IFN-alpha 2a impaired the elimination of hepatitis virus. This is the first study to demonstrate the occurrence of anti-IFN-alpha 2a in patients with AVH. Detection of anti-IFN-alpha 2a may be useful for clarifying any underlying immune events in various diseases.
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PMID:Naturally occurring anti-interferon-alpha 2a antibodies in patients with acute viral hepatitis. 190 85

The activity of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) was investigated in 80 patients with chronic non-A, non-B liver diseases. Serum anti-HCV titer was determined by the "Ortho-HCV" enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with some modifications to quantify the activity. Anti-HCV was positive in 82.5% of cases (66/80). Anti-HCV occurred significantly less often in the patients with chronic persistent hepatitis (8/13, 61.5%) than in those with chronic active hepatitis (42/49, 85.7%) (p less than 0.05). Anti-HCV titer of the patients with chronic persistent hepatitis and that with chronic active hepatitis was significantly higher than that with liver cirrhosis (p less than 0.01 and p less than 0.05). There was no correlation between anti-HCV titer and histology activity index in chronic hepatitis. Serial study demonstrated that anti-HCV titer decreased more frequently in the patients who responded to IFN alpha therapy (11/22, 50.0%) than in those who did not respond to IFN alpha therapy (0/10, 0%) (p less than 0.01). These results indicate that anti-HCV level does not correlate with the activity of hepatitis, but that it decreases in accordance with the disease progression to liver cirrhosis or with the response to IFN alpha therapy.
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PMID:Anti-hepatitis C antibodies in patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis: relation to disease progression and effect of interferon alpha. 192 44

A prospective study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of alpha-interferon in 20 children with biopsy-proven HBsAg/HBeAg/HBV-DNA-positive, anti-delta-negative chronic hepatitis. Patients were randomized to receive alpha 2a-interferon (INF), 3 MU im three times weekly for 12 months, or no treatment (10 patients per group). Five patients receiving IFN showed a marked decrease or negativization of HBV-DNA during treatment. At the end of the study (after 18 month), three patients lost HBV-DNA permanently, and two of them seroconverted to HBeAb 10 and 11 months after disappearance of HBV-DNA with normalization of aminotransferase values. In the control group, one patient had spontaneous clearance of HBV-DNA with conversion to HBeAb and normalization of aminotransferase levels. All treated patients had a febrile reaction in the first month of treatment. The dose of IFN had to be decreased in two patients and was discontinued for persistent intolerance in one of them. Patients who showed a decreased viral replication had higher initial biochemical and histological activity than nonresponders. The data suggest that IFN treatment may favorably influence the progression of chronic B hepatitis in children with a history of acute hepatitis and active chronic disease.
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PMID:Prolonged treatment of children with chronic hepatitis B with recombinant alpha 2a-interferon: a controlled, randomized study. 199 14

In contrast to adult mice, young A/J mice, developed an acute hepatitis following infection with Mouse Hepatitis virus type 3. 100% of the young animals died 4 to 5 days after the infection and high levels of virus were found in the liver and peritoneal exudate. Very low levels of IFN-gamma were found in the serum and peritoneal exudate of infected young mice. This was in contrast to the levels observed in adult mice. Spleen cells and macrophage cultures from young A/J mice, again in contrast to adult A/J mice, were shown to be unable to synthesize IFN-gamma and IFN-alpha/beta respectively. Macrophages from either young or adult A/J mice were able to be activated with exogenous recombinant IFN-gamma or IFN-alpha/beta, enabling both sets of cells to restrict MHV3 replication. The results indicate that the ability of the immune system to synthesize IFN-gamma and IFN-alpha/beta may play a major role in the age-dependent resistance of A/J mice to MHV3.
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PMID:A major role of macrophage activation by interferon-gamma during mouse hepatitis virus type 3 infection. II. Age-dependent resistance. 217 34

The study of chronic liver disease has been hampered by insufficient information relative to the pathogenesis of the many forms of hepatitis. Consequently, well-designed treatment strategies are frequently lacking. Wilson's disease is characterised by excessive copper accumulation in the liver and other organs. While d-penicillamine is clearly effective, many patients may not tolerate its many adverse effects. Trientine, oral zinc and unithiol have all shown promise as therapeutic alternatives. Autoimmune chronic active hepatitis responds well to prednisone and azathioprine. Cyclosporin has also produced clinical improvement in several case reports but no comparison has yet been made with the current standard therapy. Recombinant interferon-alpha (IFN alpha) has demonstrated the ability to inhibit hepatitis B viral replication, and the combination of oral corticosteroids followed by IFN alpha is more effective than either agent alone in eliminating viral replication in patients with chronic active hepatitis B. Currently, primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) has no standard medical management, but corticosteroids and methotrexate may each have a future role in its treatment. Drug treatment for primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) has been disappointing, and early reports of success with d-penicillamine were not confirmed in large well-controlled trials. While some reports of improvement with several agents have been described, larger studies are still needed. Alcoholic liver disease continues to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality and numerous investigators have researched several different medical avenues of treatment. Success reported with androgens and the antithyroid agent propylthiouracil in alcoholic liver disease will need confirmation by other research before these agents can be recommended for routine use. Finally, colchicine may prove to be effective in slowing the rate of fibrosis in cirrhosis, but this has yet to be conclusively proven.
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PMID:Current therapy of chronic liver disease. 219 64

In an effort to define immunobiological parameters identifying "responders" vs "non-responders" to IFN among hepatitis patients, 16 patients with chronic active hepatitis were screened for changes of Natural Killer cell activity (NK). 10/16 patients replicated the hepatitis B virus (HBV-DNA positive) whereas 6/16 replicated the defective B virus associated delta virus (HDV-RNA positive). Patients received 9 MU/3x/weekly/3 months of recombinant IFN alpha A. Mean NK activity of the HBV-DNA patients rose significantly from 29.9 +/- 5.3 to 45 +/- 4.7 during therapy, whereas the 6/16 HDV-RNA positive patients did not show any significant increase of NK activity. Interestingly, individual HDV-RNA positive patients exhibiting boosted NK activity also showed improvement of disease confirmed by clearance of intrahepatic delta antigen at one year. No such a correlation was found amongst the HBV-DNA positive patients. These data indicate that in spite of widespread individual variability, IFN-mediated NK boost may herald delta clearance and help in identifying "responders" and "non-responders" in IFN trials.
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PMID:Patterns of natural killer cell function activation in response to interferon in chronic HBsAG positive hepatitis: relationship with the state of viral infection and with the early clinical response. 246 Oct 50

A small proportion of patients with acute viral hepatitis run a progressive fulminant course ending in acute liver failure with encephalopathy, and with a mortality rate of 75-80%. In small children and pregnant women mortality is even higher. We have treated 32 patients of all ages with acute progressive and fulminant hepatitis over the last 7 years in an uncontrolled trial with human interferon-alpha (HulFN-alpha), with i.m. doses of 3 x 10(6) u/day (70,000 u/kg per day for infants) for 8 +/- 3 days (mean +/- SD.) In 17 patients hepatitis was due to hepatitis A virus, in 7 to hepatitis B virus, in 6 to non A-non B virus and in 1 case each to herpes and cytomegalovirus. Sixteen patients (50%) recovered including 9 of 22 (41%) who were in Grades III-IV coma when treatment was started. Only 1 of 8 children less than 4 years of age recovered, whereas 15 of 24 (62%) older children and adults survived. Two of three pregnant women with acute fulminant hepatitis survived. In patients who recovered, improvement was often noted on about the fifth day of IFN treatment: 9 of 16 patients died before completing 5 days of therapy. Our studies of the IFN system response to hepatitis viruses showed that the greater majority of patients produce IFN in the acute stage of the infection. However, a minority have a defective IFN response that is more severe and more common in progressive fulminant hepatitis, and in several of these patients IFN response was completely lacking. It is in these cases that IFN treatment is likely to have the greatest value. On the basis of these encouraging preliminary results, it is suggested that a well-controlled, double-blind study be done to evaluate the effectiveness of HulFN-alpha treatment when given early during the course of acute progressive viral hepatitis.
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PMID:Interferon treatment in acute progressive and fulminant hepatitis. 247 21


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