Ira M Jacobson

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..Adoption of these terms would improve communication among investigators, enhance comparability among clinical trials, facilitate development of therapeutic guidelines and provide a standardized terminology for use in clinical practice...

..Even with weight-based dosing, response rates in African American individuals are lower than reported in other ethnic groups...

..RBV 1400 mg/day is appropriate for patients 105 to 125 kg. For genotype 2/3 patients, 24 weeks of treatment with flat-dose RBV is adequate; no evidence of additional benefit of extending treatment to 48 weeks was demonstrated...

..Novel approaches, including combinations of direct antiviral agents, are needed to achieve major improvements in the treatment of nonresponders...

..It is important to recognize the impact of HCV on liver disease progression and apply new therapeutic strategies...

..Clinicians who treat patients with HCV infections should be aware of potential extrahepatic manifestations and how these can impact and alter management of their patients...

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..There was no significant effect of dosing regimen...

..The significance of normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in patients with HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection is not well understood...

..Issues for consideration for therapy include efficacy, safety, rate of resistance, method of administration, and cost...

..Patients with CHC should not be excluded from treatment on the basis of ALT alone. Combination therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin should be evaluated in these patients...

..09 cell/HPF) and monoinfected patients (0.45 +/- 0.08 cell/HPF). In conclusion, HIV coinfection is associated with fewer portal CD4 cells and increased lobular lymphocyte apoptosis that may impact on the natural history of HCV infection...

..03). Breakthrough occurred more frequently in discordant patients (24% vs. 3%; P=0.02). A positive TMA on two or more occasions in patients who have become PCR-negative on therapy indicates a high likelihood of treatment failure...

..This observation has implications for understanding the pathogenesis of HCV infection...

..The aim of this subanalysis of the Weight-based Dosing of PegINterferon α-2b and Ribavirin (WIN-R) study was to assess the impact of Asian (n=118), Hispanic (n=289), and white (n=3919) ethnicity on CHC treatment outcomes...

..This article reviews the rationale, current evidence, and future prospects for the adjunctive use of growth factors in these special populations with hepatitis C...

..We evaluated the potential of peripheral chemokine levels to discriminate among patients with chronic HCV infection who had different stages of fibrosis...

..The emergence of resistance to adefovir is delayed and infrequent, hence adefovir may be preferred in patients requiring long-term therapy...

..Our objective was to compare the effectiveness of intervening with hematologic growth factors versus dose reductions of standard HCV therapy for the management of treatment-induced hematologic disorders...

..Issues for consideration include efficacy, safety, incidence of resistance, method of administration, and cost...

..Down-regulation of multiple activation pathways may represent a homeostatic mechanism attenuating otherwise uncontrolled stimulation of circulating HCV-containing immune complexes...

..CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the CXCR3-associated chemokines, particularly CXCL10, may play an important role in the development of necroinflammation and fibrosis in the liver parenchyma in chronic HCV infection...

..This study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00219999...

..Recent proof of concept studies demonstrating the capacity to eradicate HCV without interferon signal the potential for yet another quantum leap in the field...

..Predictors of a favorable response to therapy in naïve patients appear to also predict response to therapy in patients who have relapsed previously...

..These results are encouraging for DC-based HCV immunotherapy trials...

..This treatment is associated with improvement in decompensation in some patients. Hepatocellular carcinoma remains a significant risk in all patients with cirrhosis, and control of or eradication of HBV or HCV does not remove this risk...

..Awareness of risk factors for hepatitis C will help the NP to recognize at-risk patients, who should then be screened for the virus and referred for treatment based on specific criteria...

..0-25.2] cells/HPF; P=0.26). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with chronic HCV infection, HP increases with histologic progression of liver disease, but is impaired in cirrhosis. HP was not increased in patients with elevated serum AFP levels...

..We will also explore the significance of resistant variants present at the baseline, as well as the fate of the resistant variants and the ways to minimize the development of resistance to protease inhibitors...

..In this report, the current experience using telaprevir to treat chronic HCV infection as monotherapy and in combination with other agents is reviewed...

..Subjects completed rating scale and standard gamble evaluations of current health and hypothetical descriptions of HCV symptoms and treatment side effects on a scale from 0 (death or worse than death) to 1 (best possible health)...

..However, patients with acute liver disease (acute viral hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis) should not take statins until they have recovered...

..Though usually reversible, at least one case has required long-term steroids with inadequate resolution. Though pulmonary toxicity is rare, symptoms which are more than mild or progressive in nature should likely be investigated...

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..Furthermore, we consider the implications of studies focusing on the natural history of WHV infection for the management of HBV and the capacity of treatment to prevent complications of chronic hepatitis B infection...

..In this article, the authors explore the modes of HBV transmission, describe the characteristics of chronic infection, and review the drugs available to treat it...

..Instead, factors other than antigenic stimulation may promote the accumulation of peripheral blood B cells with a naive phenotype in a subset of HCV patients...

..The most commonly observed side effects of telaprevir therapy are anaemia to a greater degree than that observed with PEG-IFN/ribavirin alone; eczematous rash, which can be severe in a minority of patients; and anorectal discomfort...

..The most commonly observed side effects of telaprevir therapy are anemia to a greater degree than that observed with Peg-IFN/ribavirin alone; eczematous rash, which can be severe in a minority of patients; and anorectal discomfort...

..Newer treatment options for early CCA such as resection and liver transplantation have shown promising results, making an effective screening regimen for the detection of CCA at a treatable stage in PSC patients a highly coveted goal...

..All of these factors can be evaluated and addressed to limit neuropsychiatric morbidity during HCV treatment...

..The data support further clinical studies of CPG 10101 for treating chronic HCV infection...

..Interferon monotherapy is associated with more adverse events in dialysis patients. The optimal dose and duration of interferon monotherapy and selection criteria of dialysis patients need to be studied further in clinical trials...

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..Future studies of the use of the roadmap concept in improving outcomes of chronic hepatitis B are warranted...

..A satellite symposium conducted during the 57th Annual Meeting of the AASLD in Boston, Massachusetts, presented new findings relative to the course of HBV infection...

..The presentation highlighted recent findings suggesting that early, profound, and sustained viral suppression improves the probability of sustained virologic response and reduces the likelihood of nucleos(t)ide resistance...

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..This finding is consistent with clinical and immunologic data that the deficit in the patient's immune repertoire is HCV-specific and suggests that refined models are required for understanding the role of DCs in HCV pathogenesis...

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