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Highest Rated Articles

Mangia A, Santoro R, Minerva N, et al. Peginterferon alfa-2b and ribavirin for 12 vs. 24 weeks in HCV genotype 2 or 3. N Engl J Med. 2005;352:2609-17.

Mangia et al. reported on shorter duration of treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis C due to genotype 2 or 3. Treatment consisted of peginterferon a2b at a reduced dose of 1.0 mcg/kg/week and weight-based ribavirin. Patients were randomized to a standard length of therapy arm (24 weeks) and a variable length of therapy arm (12 or 24 weeks). In the latter group, patients with a negative HCV RNA at 4 weeks (this time length is known as a "rapid viral response") were treated for a total of 12 weeks and those with detectable viremia at 4 weeks completed 24 weeks of therapy. Overall, 62% in the standard therapy arm and 64% in the variable therapy arm tested negative for HCV RNA at week 4, and 76% and 77% had an SVR, respectively. The relapse rate was no different in the two study groups. Lastly, genotype 3-infected patients did not fare numerically as well as those with genotype 2 infection, showing 14% difference in SVR rates (66% and 80%, respectively).

Macedo de Oliveira A, White KL, Leschinsky DP, et al. An outbreak of hepatitis C virus infections among outpatients at a hematology/oncology clinic. Ann Intern Med. 2005;142:898-902.

The hepatitis C virus spreads from one infected individual to another by parenteral contact with the infected blood or blood products. Long has there been a concern that inadequate or irresponsible handling of potentially infected materials by health care workers could pose a risk to multiple healthcare recipients. The article by de Oliveira and coworkers illustrates one such instance at a hematology-oncology clinic in Nebraska. In this clinic, 99 out of 494 patients tested were infected with HCV through shared saline bags contaminated when syringes used to draw blood from venous catheters were reused to withdraw saline solution.

Wirth S, Pieper-Boustani H, Lang T, et al. Peginterferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin treatment in children and adolescents with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2005;41:1013-8.

Wirth et al. report on an open label, uncontrolled pilot study of 62 pediatric patients treated with pegylated interferon a2b and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C. SVR rates were 47.8% for patients with HCV-1 and 100% for patients with HCV-2 and 3. The treatment was relatively well tolerated. Noticeably, 10.3% of patients developed thyroid auto-antibodies and thyroid dysfunction. Also, of concern, is whether pediatric patients should be followed longer than 6 months after the end of therapy to evaluate potential long-term neuro-psychiatric side effects.

Ciancio A, Manzini P, Castagno F, et al. Digestive endoscopy is not a major risk factor for transmitting hepatitis C virus. Ann Intern Med. 2005;142:903-9.


Improper sterilization technique of endoscopy equipment has also been singled out as a potential risk factor for transmission of enteral and parenteral diseases. Ciancio et al. prospectively evaluated the incidence of new HCV seropositivity in 9188 patients who received an endoscopy and 38,280 healthy blood donors in Italy. No endoscopy patient seroconverted for anti-HCV, whereas 4 of the blood donors became anti HCV Ab and HCV RNA positive 6 months after their initial testing. The endoscopy treated cohort included 912 patients who received an endoscopy with an instrument used in a HCV positive patient before it was used for them.

Cox AL, Netski DM, Mosbruger T, et al. Prospective evaluation of community-acquired acute-phase hepatitis C virus infection. Clin Infect Dis. 2005;40:951-8.

Cox et al. set out to study acute HCV, by prospectively following 179 HCV negative injection drug users. They confirmed that the first indication of infection is the asymptomatic presence of HCV RNA in serum. This was followed by elevation of transaminases and bilirubin in 45% and 77% of patients. No subjects had jaundice. The median time from initial viremia to seroconversion was 36 days. This fact underscores the importance to test for HCV RNA rather than anti HCV Ab if one considers that delaying treatment of acute HCV may decrease sustained viral response rates. On the other hand, patients with long-term viral clearance had HCV RNA detectable in blood up to 2 months, and as late as 2 years after the initial detection.

American Journal of Gastroenterology
Rating	Article Title
	Tahan V, Karaca C, Yildirim B, et al. Sexual transmission of HCV between spouses. Am J Gastroenterol. 2005;100:821-4.
	Stravitz RT, Chung H, Sterling RK, et al. Antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia due to epoetin alfa during antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis C. Am J Gastroenterol. 2005;100:1415-9.
	Solis-Herruzo JA, Perez-Carreras M, Rivas E, et al. Factors associated with the presence of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Am J Gastroenterol. 2005;100:1091-8.
European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology
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	Chen L, Borozan I, Feld J, et al. Hepatic gene expression discriminates responders and nonresponders in treatment of chronic hepatitis C viral infection. Gastroenterology. 2005;128:1437-44.
	Wu GY, Konishi M, Walton CM, Olive D, Hayashi K, Wu CH. A novel immunocompetent rat model of HCV infection and hepatitis. Gastroenterology. 2005;128:1416-23.
Clinical Infectious Disease
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	Antonucci G, Girardi E, Cozzi-Lepri A, et al. Role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremia and HCV genotype in the immune recovery from highly active antiretroviral therapy in a cohort of antiretroviral-naive HIV-infected individuals. Clin Infect Dis. 2005;40:101-9.
Hepatology
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	Reiser M, Hinrichsen H, Benhamou Y, et al. Antiviral efficacy of NS3-serine protease inhibitor BILN-2061 in patients with chronic genotype 2 and 3 hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2005;41:832-5.
	Pineda JA, Romero-Gomez M, Diaz-Garcia F, et al. HIV coinfection shortens the survival of patients with hepatitis C virus-related decompensated cirrhosis. Hepatology. 2005;41:779-89.
	Spiegel BM, Younossi ZM, Hays RD, Revicki D, Robbins S, Kanwal F. Impact of hepatitis C on health related quality of life: a systematic review and quantitative assessment. Hepatology. 2005;41:790-800.
	McAndrews MP, Farcnik K, Carlen P, et al. Prevalence and significance of neurocognitive dysfunction in hepatitis C in the absence of correlated risk factors. Hepatology. 2005;41:801-8.
	Bini EJ, McGready J. Prevalence of gallbladder disease among persons with hepatitis C virus infection in the United States. Hepatology. 2005;41:1029-36.
	Lackner C, Struber G, Liegl B, et al. Comparison and validation of simple noninvasive tests for prediction of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C.Hepatology. 2005;41:1376-82.
	Kamitsukasa H, Harada H, Tanaka H, Yagura M, Tokita H, Ohbayashi A. Late liver-related mortality from complications of transfusion-acquired hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2005;41:819-25.
	Kaplan DE, Sugimoto K, Ikeda F, et al. T-cell response relative to genotype and ethnicity during antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2005;41:1365-75.
	Adinolfi LE, Ingrosso D, Cesaro G, et al. Hyperhomocysteinemia and the MTHFR C677T polymorphism promote steatosis and fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C patients. Hepatology. 2005;41:995-1003.
	Otsuka M, Kato N, Moriyama M, et al. Interaction between the HCV NS3 protein and the host TBK1 protein leads to inhibition of cellular antiviral responses. Hepatology. 2005;41:1004-12.
	Semmo N, Day CL, Ward SM, et al. Preferential loss of IL-2-secreting CD4+ T helper cells in chronic HCV infection. Hepatology. 2005;41:1019-28.
Liver Transplantation
	Samonakis DN, Triantos CK, Thalheimer U, et al. Immunosuppression and donor age with respect to severity of HCV recurrence after liver transplantation. Liver Transpl. 2005;11:386-95.
	Pelletier SJ, Schaubel DE, Punch JD, Wolfe RA, Port FK, Merion RM. Hepatitis C is a risk factor for death after liver retransplantation. Liver Transpl. 2005;11:434-40.
	Benlloch S, Berenguer M, Prieto M, Rayon JM, Aguilera V, Berenguer J. Prediction of fibrosis in HCV-infected liver transplant recipients with a simple noninvasive index. Liver Transpl. 2005;11:456-62.
	Rodriguez-Luna H, Vargas HE. Management of hepatitis C virus infection in the setting of liver transplantation. Liver Transpl. 2005 May;11(5):479-89.