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This study was undertaken to investigate the presence of autoantibodies in patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C, before, during and after interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) therapy and to study their relation to dose and type of IFN-alpha and response to treatment. Fifty patients with chronic hepatitis were divided in two groups, a control-group of 21 patients (10 type B and 11 type C) who were followed for 6 months without treatment and an IFN-group consisting of 29 patients (8 type B and 21 type C) who received IFN therapy for 6 months. Serum samples were tested for a range of antibodies at the start of the study, during therapy and at the end of the 6 month period. Antibodies tested for included: antinuclear, smooth muscle, antimitochondrial, parietal cell and thyroid microsomal. Four (8%) of the total patient group had autoantibodies at the beginning of the study (two in each group). During the follow-up period no patient in the control group developed antibodies compared with 3 (11%) patients in the treatment group. Autoantibodies developed in patients treated with higher doses of IFN and were found in those patients who tended to show a poor response to IFN-therapy. Further studies are needed to establish the relationship between poor response to IFN-alpha and development of autoantibodies.
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
February 1993,
The American journal of gastroenterology,
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
June 1991,
Journal of medical virology,
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
December 2002,
Journal of endocrinological investigation,
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
January 1992,
Acta medica Austriaca,
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
November 1990,
Journal of hepatology,
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
July 1994,
Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift (1946),
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
March 1998,
Annals of internal medicine,
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
September 1994,
La Revue du praticien,
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
July 1989,
Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.),
E P Lopes, and
A E Silva, and
H Sette Junior, and
R X Guimarães, and
M L Ferraz
January 1992,
Archives of virology. Supplementum,
