Multicenter Study of Pegylated Interferon alpha -2a Monotherapy for Hepatitis C Virus-Infected Patients on Hemodialysis: REACH Study

Many studies have reported poor vital prognosis in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected dialysis patients. The rate of HCV-infected dialysis patients in Japan is as high as 9.8%, and antiviral therapy is believed to be important for improving vital prognosis. We conducted a multicenter study to examine the administration method for pegylated interferon alpha -2a (PEG-IFN alpha -2a) monotherapy in HCV-infected dialysis. We studied 56 patients: 14 with low viral loads (HCV RNA < 5.0 log IU/mL) were treated with 90 mu g PEG-IFN alpha -2a weekly, 42 with high viral loads (HCV RNA greater than or equal to 5.0 log IU/mL) were treated with 135 mu g PEG-IFN alpha -2a weekly. We examined the sustained virological response (SVR), factors affecting the SVR, and treatment safety. The overall SVR rate was 39% (22/56); that for genotype 1, genotype 2, low viral loads, and high viral loads was 29%, 67%, 93%, and 21%, respectively. From receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the HCV RNA cutoff values likely to achieve SVR for genotypes 1 and 2 were