Recombinant alpha interferon for chronic hepatitis B in anti-HIV positive patients receiving zidovudine.

In this pilot study of the effects of interferon alfa in 10 anti-HIV positive, chronic hepatitis B patients treated with zidovudine (AZT), tolerance to interferon was good and similar to that in anti-HIV negative patients. After treatment, the HIV stage and CD4 lymphocyte count were unchanged. In two patients hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) disappeared and the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) returned to normal; loss of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) with absence of histopathological activity was observed after treatment in one of these patients. These preliminary results need to be confirmed by a larger study.