Insulin resistance predicts response to peginterferon-alpha/ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients☆
Received 27 July 2008; received in revised form 4 December 2008; accepted 9 December 2008. published online 06 February 2009.
Background/Aims
Insulin resistance (IR) might be associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This study aimed to elucidate impact of IR and beta-cell function on the response to peginterferon-alpha (PEG-IFN)/ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.
Methods
Three hundred and thirty patients without overt diabetes were treated with combination therapy with (PEG-IFN)/ribavirin for 24 weeks. The IR and beta-cell function were evaluated by homeostasis model assessment of IR (HOMA-IR) and homeostasis model assessment of beta-cell function (HOMA-beta) before treatment.
Results
HCV genotype, pretreatment HCV RNA level and pretreatment HOMA-IR, but not HOMA-beta, were independent factors associated with sustained virologic response (SVR). In 150 patients with genotype 1b infection, pretreatment HCV RNA level, HOMA-IR and age were independent predictors for SVR. The significantly lower SVR rate in high HOMA-IR patients was observed in 76 patients with high HCV RNA levels (⩾400,000IU/mL) who were defined as ‘difficult-to-treat’ patients. The mean HOMA-IR of ‘difficult-to-treat’ patients was significantly lower in 42 sustained responders than in 34 non-responders.
Conclusions
IR was associated with SVR to (PEG-IFN)/ribavirin therapy for CHC, especially among ‘difficult-to-treat’ patients. These findings suggested clinical application of pretreatment HOMA-IR could enable treatment outcome to be predicted and treatment regimens to be determined.
☆ The authors who have taken part in the research of this paper declared that they do not have a relationship with the manufacturers of the drugs involved either in the past or present and they did not receive funding from the manufacturers to carry out their research.
ABSTRACT