2′,5′-01igoadenylate Synthetase Activity in Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes as a Clinical Marker in Interferon Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis B

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Abstract
Treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with human leukocyte interferon (IFN-α) was studied in terms of increase of 2′,5′-oligoadenylate (2-5A) synthetase activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) after IFN-α administration. The 2-5A synthetase activity in PBL increased to a maximum 16-24 h after IFN-α injection and then gradually decreased, while serum HB virus DNA polymerase (HBV-DNAP) activity, which corresponds to the amount of HBV virions in the serum, decreased to a minimum after about 48 h. Increase in 2-5A synthetase activity was followed about 1 day later by decrease in DNAP activity. Furthermore, of 9 patients treated with IFN for at least 22 weeks and observed for over 1 year after IFN treatment, the effective 5 cases in which HBeAg disappeared during IFN therapy and did not reappear showed rather high increases in 2-5A synthetase activity, whereas the ineffective 4 cases in which HBeAg remained positive at the end of IFN therapy showed little increases in enzyme activity. The present study suggests that prescreening by 2-5A synthetase assay before IFN therapy should be useful for obtaining better results in IFN treatment of CHB patients.