8 There have been some studies which suggested that treatment with the standard interferon-based therapy resulted in a long-term moderate decrease in HCC risk.9-11 However, there have been few reports on the long-term follow-up and rates of HCC in patients who received Paclitaxel FDA the combination therapy of interferon with ribavirin, especially in high endemic areas of HBV infection. Our study sought to address this question in Korean patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of 138 chronic hepatitis C patients who were serum anti-HCV positive according to a third-generation immunoenzyme assay, and HCV RNA positive by a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using HCV specific primers.

We excluded patients who had evidence of liver disease due to any cause other than chronic hepatitis C, decompensated liver disease-hypoalbuminemia (albumin < 3.0 g/dL), jaundice (total bilirubin > 2.0 mg/dL), prothrombin time (PT) prolongation (PT > 3 seconds), hepatic encephalopathy or ascites-, other severe systemic disease, and pregnancy. The patients were treated in the outpatient clinic of Severance Hospital from January 1995 to December 2003. We divided the 138 patients into two groups, the initial treatment group and the retreatment group. The initial treatment group consisted of 94 patients, and the retreatment group consisted of 44 patients who had previously received IFN monotherapy or IFN plus ribavirin combination therapy.

All patients were treated for 24 weeks with recombinant interferon alpha (Intermax-��; LG chemical Ltd, Korea: Intron- A; Schering-Plough, Kenilworth, NJ, USA) plus ribavirin (Rebetol; Schering-Plough, Kenilworth, NJ, USA). IFN-�� was administered subcutaneously three times weekly (3-6 million units (MU)) and the ribavirin was orally given 900 – 1200 mg/day. The safety, tolerance and efficacy Entinostat of the treatment were assessed by interview and by biochemical and hematological testing including serum ��-fetoprotein and abdominal ultrasonography for screening of HCC. Serum HCV-RNA concentrations were measured before initiating treatment, 12 weeks into the program, at the completion of therapy, and every 24 weeks in the follow-up period. Serum HCV RNA concentrations were measured by PCR using a commercial assay with a lower limit of detection of 50 IU/ml (Cobas Amplicor HCV Monitor; Roche Diagnostics, Hoffman-Laroche, Basel, Switzerland). The IFN or ribavirin doses were modified if an important adverse event occurred such as serious alterations of renal function or hematological toxicity.