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Interferon-Alpha Therapy in Liver Transplant Recipients: Lack of Association with Increased Production of Anti-HLA Antibodies

2004; Elsevier BV; Volume: 4; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1600-6143.2004.00497.x

1600-6143

Francesca Cardarelli, Manuel Pascual, Raymond T. Chung, Nina Tolkoff-Rubin, Waichi Wong, A. Benedict Cosimi, Susan L. Saidman,

Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment

Interferon-alpha (IFN) is a useful treatment for active HCV infection. In kidney transplantation, IFN has been shown to trigger acute rejection with de novo anti-HLA antibodies. Interferon-alpha has not been reported to enhance the risk of acute rejection in HCV-positive liver transplant recipients (LTRs). Sera were collected from 44 LTRs greater than 6 months post-transplant. Sera were tested with ELISA for the presence and the specificity of anti-HLA antibodies. The prevalence of anti-HLA antibodies was 11% and was not significantly different in 13 HCV-positive recipients who received IFN, compared with 10 who did not receive IFN (8% vs. 20%), or with 21 HCV-negative recipients (10%). None of the patients had an acute rejection after starting IFN. In this study, LTRs receiving IFN did not have an increased frequency of anti-HLA antibodies. This may partially explain the safety of IFN previously reported in LTRs requiring antiviral therapy.