Clinico-pathological predictive factors of response to interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis C.

We performed a clinico-pathological study to determine which pre-treatment factors could predict the response to interferon (IFN) therapy in 55 Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis C. Responses to the IFN therapy were evaluated as sustained response, relapse and non-response by the presence or absence of serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA during the course of treatment and at least 6-months post-treatment. The numbers of sustained response, relapse and non-response were 16 (29.0%), 25 (45.5%) and 14 (25.5%), respectively. Eight out of 16 sustained response cases (50%) showed HCV genotype III. Eight among 10 patients with HCV genotype III (80%) were sustained responders. HCV genotypes were found to be correlated with the response to the IFN therapy (p < 0.0001). None of the histological features, the types of the IFN therapy and other clinical factors showed significant differences. These findings suggest that outcome of the IFN therapy in chronic hepatitis C can be predicted by a virological factor, and that HCV genotype III is a useful predictor of a favorable outcome.

A clinicpathological study of hepatocellular carcinoma in Nagasaki, south-western Japan: the association of hepatitis B and C viruses.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent cancers in Japan as well as Southeast Asia and Africa. On 89 patients with HCC in the Nagasaki City area were performed serological examinations and histopathological studies. The number of HBsAg positive and anti-HCV positive was three (3%), HBsAg positive and anti-HCV negative 21 (24%), HBsAg negative and anti-HCV positive 58 (65%) and HBsAg negative and anti-HCV negative seven (8%). These results strongly suggest that HCV infection is a more important factor in the development of HCC than HBV infection. The HBsAg negative and anti-HCV positive group showed a higher mean age and a higher male to female ratio than the HBsAg positive and anti-HCV negative group. Histological examinations showed no differences between these two groups. In addition, all cases were complicated with chronic hepatitis (CH) or liver cirrhosis (LC) in adjacent liver tissue. These findings suggest that CH and LC seem to play an important role in the pathogenesis of HCC.