TABLE 1.

Kinetics of sg1b HCV RNA decline under various IFN-α concentrations

Sampling method and IFN-α concn (U/ml)	Rapid-phase kineticsa		Slow-phase kineticsa
	Mean sg1b RNA log10 reduction from baseline (V0/Vrapid)	sg1b RNA decline rate per day	Mean sg1b RNA log10 reduction from baseline (V0/Vend)	sg1b RNA decline rate per day
Nonfrequente
Control	0.15	0.26 ± 0.11	0.02	(0.14) ± 0.03
100	1.59	1.34 ± 0.15d	1.81	0.1 ± 0.02d
250	1.16	2.51 ± 0.22d	2.29	0.33 ± 0.03d
500c	1.27	2.62 ± 0.04d	2.51	0.70 ± 0.04d
1,000c	1.48	2.85 ± 0.01d	2.88	0.79 ± 0.03d
Frequentb
Control	0.05	0.03 ± 0.02	0.05	0.03 ± 0.02
100	1.49	0.79 ± 0.02d	1.53	0.05 ± 0.03
250	1.48	1.47 ± 0.07d	2.47	0.33 ± 0.04d

^aV₀, sg1b level at baseline; V_rapid, sg1b level at day 2 (with 250, 500, and 1,000 U/ml IFN-α) or at day 4 (with 0 U/ml and 100 U/ml IFN-α); V_end, mean sg1b RNA levels at day 9 (with 0, 100, and 250 U/ml IFN) or day 6 (with 500 and 1,000 U/ml IFN-α). Parentheses are used to indicate an sg1b RNA increase.

^bResults from the frequent sampling of 100- and 250-U/ml IFN-α experiments shown in Fig. 3C. Because the first-phase decline was determined to last until 4.5 and 2.5 days in these experiments, respectively, the V_rapid and sg1b rapid decay rates were calculated through days 4.5 and 2.5, while the sg1b RNA decline rate during the slower phase was calculated from day 4.5 and 2.5, respectively, to day 8, i.e., V_end is 8.

^cCalculated until day 6 due to inhibition of cell growth from day 6 (Fig. 1).

^dsg1b decline rate is significantly different from 0 (P < 0.01).

^eResults from the nonfrequent sampling of 100- to 1,000-U/ml IFN-α experiments shown in Fig. 2.