Incidence of thyroid dysfunction during pegylated recombinant interferon variant and ribavirin combined treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C and the impact on anti-HCV treatment

Abstract

Objective To investigate the incidence and long-term outcomes of thyroid dysfunction (TD) in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) who received pegylated recombinant interferon variant combined with ribavirin (PegIFN-SA/RBV) treatment. Methods Total of 45 patients with CHC admitted in Wuhan University Zhongnan Hospital during September 2013 and December 2015 were collected. Patients in test group were treated with PegIFN-SA subcutaneous injection once a week (1.5 μg/kg). Patients in control group were treated with PegIFN α-2a for subcutaneous injection once a week (180 μg). All patients were also treated with oral RBV (1 000-1 200 mg/d) .The patients with HCV genotype 2/3 were treated for 24 weeks, the other patients with no-genotype 2/3 HCV were treated for 48 weeks, all patients were followed up for 24 weeks after treatment. Thyroid function and HCV RNA were measured at baseline, every 3 months during therapy and 6 months after treatment. Results Among the 30 patients who completed treatment with PegIFN-SA/RBV and 24 weeks follow-up, 14 cases were males and the median age was (36.5 ± 12.0) years old (19-56 years old), 6 cases were with HCV genotype 2/3, 83.3% (25/30) cases achieved sustained virological response (SVR); 13 (43.3%, 13/30) patients developed TD/TAs during the PegIFN-SA/RBV treatment. The relapse rate of HCV was higher in patients with TD than those without TD (44.4% vs. 4.8%, P = 0.02). Conclusions The development of TD/TAs was common in patients with CHC receiving Peg-IFN-SA/RBV treatment. TD is associated with an unfavorable virological response to PegIFN-SA/RBV. Key words: Chronic hepatitis C; Interferon therapy; Thyroid dysfunction; Thyroid autoantibodies