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Pegylated interferon plus ribavirin therapy improves pancreatic -cell function in chronic hepatitis C patients
Liver International, 08/15/2011
Clinical Article
Huang JF et al. – This study demonstrated pancreatic β–cell function was ameliorated by peginterferon plus ribavirin(PegIFN/RBV) therapy in chronic hepatitis C(CHC) patients, particularly in those responders.
Methods- Total of 277 non–diabetic patients treated with PegIFN–α and weight–based RBV, with 80/80/80 adherence, were recruited.
- Their insulin resistance(IR) and β–cell function by homeostasis model assessment model (HOMA–IR and HOMA–%B) before treatment and at 24 week after treatment [end of follow–up (EOF)] was measured.
- Sustained virological response (SVR) was achieved by 79.4% (220/277) of all patients: 63.6% (75/118) of genotype–1 and 91.2% (145/159) of genotype–non–1 patients.
- There was no significant change of HOMA–IR post–therapy (2.25±2.46 vs 2.04±2.12, P=0.42).
- By contrast, there was a significant reduction of HOMA–%B of all patients at EOF (122.9± 145.2 vs 92.4 ±73.2, P=0.001), particularly in those responders (119.1± 142.1 vs 89.6± 70.3, P=0.002).
- In 80 patients with high baseline HOMA–IR, both HOMA–IR and HOMA–%B decreased significantly at EOF, irrespective of SVR achievement.