Restoration of Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses by HCV Viral Inhibition with an Induction Approach Using Natural Interferon-Beta in Chronic Hepatitis C

Table 3

Effect of RBV plus PEG-IFN-alpha 2b using an “induction” therapy with CPIT (NCT) on serum HCV RNA in chronic hepatitis C with high viral load, serotype 1 (genotype 1b), and wild or intermediate type in ISDR.

Patient no.					HCV RNA in serum (KIU/mL)
	Serotype	ISDR number of mutations in NS5A gene	Baseline	4 weeks (RVR)	12 weeks (EVR)	24 wks; (end of CPIT)	72 weeks; (end of NCT)	96 weeks (24 wks after end of NCT)	Virologic breakthrough	Outcome
Early virologic responders
1	I	n.d.	1480	<5.0	(−)	(−)	(−)	(−)	(−)	SVR
2	I	Wild (0)	824	<5.0	(−)	(−)	(−)	(−)	(−)	SVR
3	I	Wild (0)	536	<5.0	(+)	(−)	(−)	(−)	(−)	SVR
4	I	Wild (0)	3600	<5.0	(+)	(−)	(−)	(−)	(−)	SVR
5	I	Intermediate (1)	770	<5.0	(−)	(−)	(−)	(−)	(−)	SVR
Late virologic responders
6	I	Intermediate (2)	>5000	<5.0	(+)	(+)(−)^$	(−)(+)𝛿	3400	(−)	TVR
7	I	Intermediate (1)	4400	<0.5	(+)	(+)(−)^£	(−)600𝛿4500^§	850	(−)	TVR
Mean±SD			2298±1523	RVR	EVR	ETVR (CPIT )	ETVR (NCT)	SVR	Without BT
				7/7	7/7	5/7	7/7	5/7	7/7
					cEVR (3/7)	pEVR (4/7)		TVR 2/7

ISDR: IFN sensitivity determining region, IFN: interferon, RVR: rapid virologic response, EVR: early virologic response, cEVR: complete EVR, pEVR: partial EVR, SVR: sustained virologic response, TVR: transient virologic response, CPIT: cyclic and periodic IFN treatment, NCT: novel combination, n.d: not determined, (−) in HCV RNA: undetectable HCV RNA (<50 IU/mL), (+) in HCV RNA: detectable HCV RNA (>50 IU/mL), ^$29 weeks of NCT, 𝛿4 weeks after end of NCT, ^£30 weeks of NCT, ^§8 weeks after end of NCT, and BT: breakthrough.