TABLE 1.
The use of interferon (IFN) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) and renal allograft rejection
| Reference | HCV genotype | n | IFN treatment received | Acute rejection | Cleared HCV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durlik et al, 1998 (24) | Unknown | 11 | IFN-α 3 mU sc tiw for 3 to 12 months | 1/11 | 0/11* |
| Rostaing et al, 1996 (25) | Unknown | 16 | IFN-α 2b 3 mU sc tiw for 6 months or until discontinued | 0/16† | Unknown |
| Kramer et al, 1984 (26) | Unknown | 8 | IFN 36 mU im tiw for 1.5 months then tiw for 1.5 months | 8/8 | Unknown |
| Tokumoto et al, 1999 (27) | 1b (3 patients) | 6 | IFN-α 5–10 mU sc qd 1–14 days and then 5 to 10 mU sc tiw for 2 to 24 weeks | 2/6 | 3/6* |
| 2a (2 patients) | |||||
| 2b (1 patient) | |||||
| Hanafusa et al, 1998 (14) (subgroup analysis) | 1b (9 patients) | 10 | IFN-α 2b 9 mU qd for 2 weeks and tiw for 22 weeks | 4/10 | 1/10* |
| 2a (1 patient) | |||||
| Chan et al, 1993 (15) | Unknown | 1 | IFN-α 1.5 mU sc tiw tapered to maximum 5 mU tiw and tapered off over 9 months | 1/1 | 1/1* |
| Ozgur et al, 1995 (28) | Unknown | 5 | IFN-α 4.5 mU sc tiw until discontinued (2 to 6 months) | 2/5 | No in 3/5‡ unknown in 2/5 |
| Takahara et al, 1995 (29) | Unknown | 2 | IFN-α 6 mU six times a week for 3 weeks and then tiw for 2 months (1 patient) | 1/2 | Unknown |
| IFN-α 6 mU qd for 6 months (1 patient) | |||||
| Konishi et al, 2004 (30) | 2b | 1 | IFN-β 6 mU iv qd for 1 month | 0/1 | 1/1* |
| Therret et al, 1994 (31) | Unknown | 9 | IFN-α 3 mU tiw sc for 6 months | 0–1/9 (the one patient may have been both HCV and HBV) | Unknown |
| Tang et al, 2003 (32) | 1a (1 patient) | 4 | IFN-α 2b 3 mU sc tiw for 6 to12 months | 0/4 | 3/4* |
| 1b (1 patient) | |||||
| 2 (1 patient) | |||||
| 6a (1 patient) | |||||
| Magnone et al, 1994 (33) | Unknown | 6 | IFN-α 2 to 5 mU sc tiw for 0.3 to 13 months | 5/7 | Unknown |
| Luciani et al, 2003 (34) | 1b (after transplant) | 1 | IFN-α 6 mU qd for 18 days, then 6 mU tiw for total of 6 months | 0/1 | 1/1* |
| Baid et al, 2003 (19) | Unknown in 10 patients. In 2 who rejected 1a (1 patient) and 2a/2c (1 patient) | 12 | IFN 1.5 mU sc tiw and increased to 3 mU sc tiw. In 3 patients. IFN changed to PEGIFN 1 μg/kg to 1.5 μg/kg sc weekly. Total treatment 3 to 89 months | 2/12 (neither were on PEGIFN) | 4/12* |
| 5/12‡ |
Patients documented as being hepatitis B virus (HBV) positive in addition to HCV positive are not included. Patients who received a combined liver and renal transplant are not included.
*
HCV clearance as documented by undetectable HCV viral load;
†
six of 16 patients in Rostaing et al (25) were documented as having acute renal failure that could not be classified as acute rejection by the Banff criteria; nine of 16 patients also discontinued IFN-α due to side effects;
‡
HCV clearance as documented by liver biopsy and/or biochemical response. im Intramuscular; iv Intravenously; PEG Pegylated; qd Daily; sc Subcutaneously; tiw Three times a week