Native disulfide bonds in therapeutic proteins are crucial for tertiary structure and biological activity and are therefore considered unsuitable for chemical modification. We show that native disulfides in human interferon alpha-2b and in a fragment of an antibody to CD4(+) can be modified by site-specific bisalkylation of the two cysteine sulfur atoms to form a three-carbon PEGylated bridge. ...

introduction patients with hepatitis c are commonly treated with combination of pegylated interferon alfa-2a and ribavirin. less than 1% of patients receiving this treatment experience very uncommon ophthalmological side effects such as optic neuropathy and vision disorder, which are usually subclinical, mild and reversible, not requiring the withdrawal of the treatment. retinopathy is the most...

We report a case of new interferon-associated ocular complication during treatment with combination of pegylated interferon plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C infection. Our patient developed choroidal neovascularization in addition to the classic interferon associated retinopathy. Choroidal neovascularization has not been reported before in association with interferon induced retinopathy. ...

Aim. To evaluate the compliance and virological response to pegylated interferon alpha 2a treatment of chronic hepatitis B in Roma population compared to majority Caucasian population in Slovakia. Methods. Retrospective evaluation of a cohort of all Roma patients treated with pegylated interferon alpha 2a from 2007 to 2013 in 3 centers for treatment of chronic viral hepatitis B. The Study inclu...

background many types of cardiovascular complications such as; cardiac arrhythmias, impaired cardiac function, myocardial ischemia and decreased left ventricular function, have been attributed to interferon therapy. objectives the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of combination therapy pegylated interferon and ribavirin on left ventricular systolic and diastolic functions in patien...

BACKGROUND Ribavirin blood levels vary considerably between patients with standard weight-based dosing. Their impact on sustained virological response (SVR) with pegylated interferon and ribavirin is controversial, but has mostly been studied before the IL28b gene polymorphism as a possible confounder was discovered. METHODS The impact of serum ribavirin trough levels at week 4, at the end of...

BACKGROUND The standard treatment of chronic hepatitis C is the administration of pegylated interferon α2a or α2b in combination with ribavirin, but adverse effects can be observed, as well as the high cost of this therapy. Therefore, there is interest in understanding the predictors of sustained virologic response, as the gamma glutamyltransferase. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the serum levels of g...

BACKGROUND It remains unclear whether depression in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) during pegylated interferon-based therapy is associated with the virus, drug or ethnic background. We aimed to perform a prospective study to evaluate the clinical course of depression and its predictors in consecutive non-cirrhotic CHB and CHC patients of the same ethnicity receiving peg...