2. Inhibition of hepatitis B viral replication by lymphoblastoid interferon

Abstract

Human leucocyte interferon has been used to treat chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. In uncontrolled studies along or in combination with adenine arabinoside (Ara-A) it has been shown, in a minority of patients, to produce permanent inhibition of viral replication: loss of HBV-DNA polymerase activity (DNAp), seroconversion from HBeAg to anti-HBe and a decrease in HBsAg concentration (Scullard et al . 1981). Loss of HBsAg is uncommon and probably reflects the presence of clones of hepatocytes containing integrated HBV-DNA (Brechot et al. 1981; Shafritz et al. 1981). A controlled study in which human leucocyte interferon was given in lower total doses failed to produce a permanent effect (Weimar et al. 1980). Human fibroblast interferon has been shown to have no significant antiviral effect in chronic HBV infection (Weimar et al . 1979). Ara-A in a controlled study and its monophosphate ester (Ara-AMP) in an uncontrolled study, have been shown to produce permanent inhibition of HBV replication (Bassendine et al. 1981; Weller et al. 1982).