Treatment of posttransfusion non-A, non-B acute and chronic hepatitis with human fibroblast beta-interferon: a preliminary report.

We treated five patients with posttransfusion non-A, non-B chronic active hepatitis and six patients with posttransfusion non-A, non-B acute hepatitis with 3 million units of human fibroblast beta-interferon three times weekly for 4 wk. Initiation of interferon therapy was followed by a prompt and marked decrease in serum aminotransferase activity in five patients with chronic active hepatitis and five patients with acute hepatitis; the exception was one patient with acute hepatitis in whom serum aminotransferase levels fluctuated during treatment. Biopsy specimens obtained immediately after therapy showed improvement in hepatic histology in two of four patients with chronic active hepatitis and three of four patients with acute hepatitis. Cessation of interferon therapy was followed by a prompt increase in serum aminotransferase levels in five patients with chronic active hepatitis and in one patient with acute hepatitis, although re-elevated serum aminotransferase levels returned gradually to the normal range in the patient with acute hepatitis, but did not do so in five patients with chronic active hepatitis. In another patient with acute hepatitis whose serum aminotransferase levels fluctuated during interferon therapy, serum aminotransferase levels reached normal range after discontinuation of therapy. At 6 months and 12 months after discontinuation of interferon therapy, all five patients with chronic active hepatitis showed elevated serum aminotransferase levels, and all six patients with acute hepatitis showed normal serum aminotransferase levels. These results suggest that short-term and low doses of beta-interferon therapy has an only temporal effect on controlling the disease activity in patients with posttransfusion non-A, non-B chronic active hepatitis, and it might become an effective therapy for posttransfusion non-A, non-B acute hepatitis.