@article{3083662,
    title = "A randomized trial to assess the efficacy of interferon alpha in
combination with ribavirin in the treatment of interferon alpha
nonresponders with chronic hepatitis C: superior efficacy of high daily
dosage of interferon alpha in genotype 1",
    author = "Tassopoulos, NC and Tsantoulas, D and Raptopoulou, M and Vassiliadis, T and and Kanatakis, S and Paraskevas, E and Vafiadis, I and Avgerinos, A and and Tzathas, C and Manolakopoulos, S and Ketikoglou, I and Aggelis, P and and Goritsas, K and Giannoulis, G and G, GH and Thomopoulos, K and and Akriviadis, E and Sypsa, V and Hatzakis, A",
    journal = "Journal of Viral Hepatitis",
    year = "2003",
    volume = "10",
    number = "3",
    pages = "189-196",
    publisher = "Wiley",
    issn = "1352-0504, 1365-2893",
    doi = "10.1046/j.1365-2893.2003.00406.x",
    keywords = "chronic hepatitis C; daily interferon; interferon alpha; non-responders;
randomized clinical trial; ribavirin",
    abstract = "A randomized trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of daily (QD) or
thrice weekly (TIW) administration of interferon-alpha (IFN) in high
doses in combination with ribavirin (1.0-1.2 g/day) in patients with
chronic hepatitis C (CHC) who were nonresponders to previous IFN
monotherapy. Interferon was administered as 10 MU IFN (QD or TIW) for 4
weeks, followed by 5 MU IFN (QD or TIW) for 20 weeks, and then by 3 MU
IFN (QD or TIW) for 24 weeks. Sustained virological response (SVR) was
evaluated in 142 patients who received at least one dose of medication.
One-fourth of the patients achieved SVR, 26% of those treated with IFN
QD and 25% of those treated with IFN TIW (P = 0.85). For genotype 1
patients, SVR rates were 32.4 and 15.8% for IFN QD and IFN TIW,
respectively, whereas for genotype non-1 patients the corresponding SVR
rates were 20.6 and 36.4%, respectively (test of homogeneity: P =
0.031). This finding was further confirmed by multivariate logistic
regression analysis where a statistically significant interaction (P =
0.012) was found between treatment and HCV genotype indicating that the
IFN QD regimen was superior to IFN TIW among genotype 1 patients
whereas, among genotype non-1 patients, the two treatments were similar
(odds ratio of SVR in IFN QD vs IFN TIW: 3.33 among genotype 1 patients,
95% CI: 1.00-11.14). In conclusion, re-treatment of patients not
responding to previous IFN monotherapy with a combination of high daily
dose of IFN with ribavirin may be beneficial for genotype 1 infected
patients."
}