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Dig Dis Sci 1996 Aug;41(8):1672-1677
Interferon-alpha therapy may induce insulin autoantibody
development in patients with chronic viral hepatitis.
di Cesare E, Previti M, Russo F, Brancatelli S, Ingemi MC, Scoglio
R, Mazzu N, Cucinotta D, Raimondo G
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Messina, Italy.
Development of type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus has been recently
reported in patients who underwent interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) therapy because
of chronic viral hepatitis. Furthermore IFN-alpha seems to be involved in the
immunological events that lead to beta-cell destruction and development of type
1 diabetes. To evaluate whether IFN-alpha treatment could elicit an autoimmune
response against beta-cell antigens, we determined the occurrence of islet cell
antibodies and insulin autoantibodies in the sera of 60 patients with HCV- or
HBV-related chronic hepatitis who had been treated with IFN-alpha for 6 or 12
months. The presence of antibodies against thyroglobulin, thyroid microsomal
antigen, gastric parietal cells, and non-organ-specific antigens was also investigated.
Insulin autoantibody positivity was observed in 2/60 (3.3%), 8/60 (13.3%), and
4/30 (13.3%) patients, before IFN-alpha treatment, and after 6 months and 12
months of therapy, respectively. None of the studied patients developed islet
cell antibodies or type 1 diabetes. Before IFN-alpha therapy four patients showed
thyroid autoantibodies and four others developed antibodies against thyroglobulin
and/or thyroid microsomal antigen during the treatment. Coexistence of insulin
autoantibodies and thyroid autoantibodies was observed in only two patients.
Our results showed that IFN-alpha therapy in patients with chronic viral hepatitis
is capable of inducing development of autoantibodies against insulin. This event
seems to be not related to other autoimmune disorders.
PMID: 8769300, UI: 96354658
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