Retreatment with 24-week course of interferon-α for patients with chronic hepatitis C

Twenty-nine patients with chronic hepatitis C were retreated with a 24-week course of natural interferon-α to evaluate the efficacy of retreatment with interferon for patients who were resistant to previous therapy. At 6 months after the end of retreatment, three patients (10%) had achieved sustained alanine aminotransferase normalization and sustained clearance of hepatitis C virus RNA in serum. Fifteen patients (52%) showed alanine aminotransferase normalization during retreatment but suffered from relapse during the 24 weeks after retreatment. In 11 patients (38%), no significant decrease of alanine aminotransferase was observed during and after retreatment. Three of ten patients with hepatitis C virus RNA of 2.3 × 10⁵ equivalents/ml or less became sustained responders but none of the patients with a higher virus level achieved a sustained response. These results indicate that retreatment with a 24-week course of interferon is not efficient and other approaches are needed to attain a higher rate of sustained response, especially in patients with high viral load.