Relationship Among Hepatic Inflammatory Changes, Circulating Levels of Cytokines, and Response to IFN-α in Chronic Hepatitis C

ABSTRACT To investigate the relationship among circulating cytokines, inflammation in the liver, and kind of response to interferon-α (IFN-α) in hepatitis C, we studied 63 consecutive patients (38 male, 25 female), treated with IFN for up to 1 year. Serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was measured at baseline and after 3 months of treatment. Transient (TR) or sustained response (SR) was observed in 29 and 16 patients, respectively. Baseline levels of TNF ≤22 ng/L were observed in 69% of patients with SR, 55% of patients with TR, and 22% of nonresponders (p 22 ng/L were observed in 63% of patients with SR, 69% of patients with TR, and 83% of nonresponders (p NS). Independent of the treatment outcome, TNF levels were lower at baseline and increased significantly with treatment in patients with lower histologic grading (p < 0.005). In conclu...