Connect
MJA
MJA

Interferon-α-related microscopic polyangiitis in a patient with chronic hepatitis C infection

Stephen Y Oh, Brett E Jones and Suran L Fernando
Med J Aust 2011; 195 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/mja11.10249
Published online: 3 October 2011

To the Editor: A 38-year-old man with genotype 1b chronic hepatitis C infection had been treated with 48 weeks of pegylated interferon (IFN)-α and ribavirin. Autoimmune serology performed just before treatment showed positive perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) accompanied by an elevated antimyeloperoxidase antibody level (22 U/mL; reference range [RR], < 5 U/mL). Notably, the patient was ANCA-negative 12 months previously. The treatment course was uneventful.


  • Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW.



Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. Dumoulin FL, Leifeld L, Sauerburch T, Spengler U. Autoimmunity induced by Interferon-αlpha therapy for chronic viral hepatitis. Biomed Pharmacother 1999; 53: 242-254.
  • 2. Dusheiko G. Side effects of alpha interferon in chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 1997; 26 (3 Suppl 1): 112S-121S.
  • 3. Yu ML, Dai CY, Huang JF, et al. Rapid virological response and treatment duration for chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 patients: a randomized trial. Hepatology 2008; 47: 1884-1893.

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.