TABLE 1.

Clinical and virologic features of the 12 patients in this study^a

Patient	HCV genotype used for infection	Dose of IFNb	Response	Time point	HCV RNA titerc (log eq/ml)
1	1b	3 mU tiw	NR	Pre-Rx	7.7
				During-Rx	7.3
				Post-Rx	7.9
2	1a	3 mU tiw	NR	Pre-Rx	7.2
				During-Rx	6.0
				Post-Rx	7.3
3	1a	3 mU tiw	NR	Pre-Rx	7.0
				During-Rx	6.2
				Post-Rx	7.3
4	1a	3 mU tiw	NR	Pre-Rx	7.3
				Post-Rx	7.5
5	1a	5 mU tiw	RB	Pre-Rx	7.7
				Breakthrough	7.1
				Post-Rx	7.7
6	1a	5 mU tiw	RR	Pre-Rx	7.4
				Post-Rx	Neg
				Relapse	6.3
7	1a	3 mU tiw, 3 mo	RR	Pre-Rx	6.4
		3 mU daily, 3 mo		Post-Rx	Neg
				Relapse	6.1
8	1a	5 mU tiw, 3 mo	RR	Pre-Rx	7.3
		5 mU daily, 3 mo		Post-Rx	Neg
				Relapse	7.5
9	1b	5 mU tiw	RR	Pre-Rx	7.7
				Post-Rx	Neg
				Relapse	7.4
10	1b	NA	Control	Time 0	6.6
				Time 12 yr	6.7
11	1a	NA	Control	Time 0	5.4
				Time 9 yr	7.6
12	1b	NA	Control	Time 0	6.8
				Time 13 yr	5.8

^aPatients 1 to 4 were nonresponders (NR), while patient 5 was a responder who experienced virologic breakthrough (RB) during therapy (Rx). Patients 6 to 9 were responder-relapsers (RR) who were negative at the end of therapy but relapsed following cessation of therapy. Patients 10 to 12 represent untreated control patients. 

^bDose of IFN was for 6 months unless otherwise stated. tiw, three times per week; NA, not applicable. 

^cViral RNA was quantitated by bDNA assay, and whenever bDNA was negative, quantitative PCR was performed to determine the residual quantity of viral RNA. Neg, negative for HCV RNA by RT-PCR.