Abstract Background Ustekinumab is a humanized antibody to p40 subunit shared by the cytokines IL-12 and IL-23, which has been approved for treatment of Crohn’s disease. While it presumed derive clinical efficacy blocking ability these stimulate specific T cell subsets, its actual effect upon human immune system not well-described. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were cryopres...

Type I interferons are potent cytokines that possess antiviral, immunomodulating and antiproliferative actions. The development of autoimmune hepatitis is a well recognized complication of treatment with alpha IFN in patients with chronic viral hepatitis. Yet, the occurrence in patients under treatment with beta IFN for other indications is controversial and its occurrence often underestimated....

Background: We explored the effect of vitamin D receptor gene (VDR) polymorphisms in response to PEG-IFN treatment in Egyptian chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Methods: Two hundred hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients (42.3±10.7 years) on PEG-IFN α-2a (180 μg /kg for 48 weeks) and one hundred control subjects (37.3 ±12 years) were enrolled in the study. Vitamin D levels a...

BACKGROUND Natural killer (NK) cells likely contribute to outcome of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and interferon (IFN)-induced control of chronic HCV infection. We previously observed IFN-αR and NKp30 expression associated with IFN-α-dependent NK cell activity. METHODS Here, we examined CD16(+)56(-), CD16(+)56(+), and CD16(-)56(+) NK cell subset IFN-αR and NKp30 expression in relat...

BACKGROUND Chronic hepatitis C remains a major global health burden with serious long-term consequences if left untreated. Recently the treatment standard of care has shifted to new interferon (IFN)-free drug regimens, which have been shown to be safe and effective. The aim of our study was to assess and compare medical resource utilization and costs of successfully treating patients with IFN-b...

Available literature on the effects of interferon (IFN) treatment on development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic virus infection reports controversial results. The primary objective of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effect of IFN on HCC risk in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) or hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection; IFN's efficacy on...

In contrast to chronic or subacute thyroiditis, Graves' disease rarely complicates IFN-alpha therapy for chronic viral C hepatitis. We report the case of a 51-year-old man in whom IFN-alpha treatment was followed by recurrence of Graves' disease 10 years after thyroidectomy was performed and the patient was declared cured. Despite severe thyrotoxicosis, combined IFN-alpha and ribavirin therapy ...

We report a 48-year-old man who developed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after a successful treatment with peg-IFN-alpha plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. He had a history of smoking and a single copy of the HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE). In a retrospective analysis, he exhibited the anti-CCP antibodies before the start of IFN plus ribavirin treatment. However, the titers ...

BACKGROUND Major depression is a frequent adverse effect of interferon-alpha (IFN-α) therapy. Although the indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) enzyme seems to be involved in the pathophysiology of IFN-α-induced depression, no pharmacogenetic study has investigated whether variation in the IDO gene modifies vulnerability to this adverse effect. METHODS A cross-sectional study assessing 277 hepat...