Retinol supplements antiviral action of interferon in patients with chronic hepa

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J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2010 Jan;46(1):36-42. Epub 2009 Dec 29.

Retinol supplements antiviral action of interferon in patients with chronic

hepatitis C: a prospective pilot study.

Kohge N, Sato S, Hamamoto S, Akagi S, Uchida Y, Miyake T, Mishiro T, Furuta K,

Oshima N, Ishine J, Takahashi Y, Ishimura N, Fukuda R, Ishihara S, Amano Y,

Kinoshita Y.

Department of Gastroenterology, Shimane Prefectural Central Hospital, Izumo,

Shimane 693-8555, Japan.

Sustained virologic response with peg-interferon and ribavirin combination

therapy for 48 weeks is still inadequate. Our study examined whether short-term

administration of retinol clinically influences the anti-viral activity of

interferon early during interferon and ribavirin combination therapy. The

control group received 6 MIU of interferon alpha-2b every day for two weeks and

then 3 times a week for 22 weeks intramuscularly plus 600 mg or 800 mg per day

of ribavirin orally for 24 weeks. The retinol group, in addition to above

treatment, received retinol 30,000 units per day orally for 3 weeks from one

week before the start of interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin combination therapy.

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA negativity rate at 1 week after the end of

interferon alpha-2b and ribavirin combination therapy was 46.7% (28/60) for the

retinol group and 31.7% (19/60) for the control group, which was significantly

higher for the retinol group. The level of serum HCV RNA in the retinol group

was significantly lower at 1 week after beginning treatment as compared to the

control group (p<0.01). Furthermore, serum 2,5'AS protein at 1 week after

beginning treatment was significantly higher in the retinol group (p = 0.0002).

The results suggest that retinol supplement increases the antiviral effect of

interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin only during the administration of IFN

alpha-2b, ribavirin and retinol in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

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PMID: 20104263 [PubMed - in process]