Alanine aminotransferase normalization at week 8 predicts viral response during hepatitis C treatment

Table 1 Comparison of baseline characteristics and virological responses in patients with and without rapid virological response n (%)

	Patients with RVR	Patients without RVR	P1value
	(Group 1,n= 52)	(Group 2,n= 99)
Age (yr)	55.9 ± 12.2	57.9 ± 11.1	0.312
Male	24 (46.2)	51 (51.5)	0.534
Initial ALT (IU/L)	87.3 ± 109.8	52.2 ± 40.4	0.005
Initial abnormal ALT level	33 (63.5)	49 (49.5)	0.103
Initial HCV RNA (log10 IU/ mL)	5.4 ± 1.1	6.1 ± 0.8	0.000
cEVR	52 (100)	58 (59)	0.000
ETR	48 (92)	56 (57)	0.000
SVR	43 (83)	40 (40)	0.000
ISHAK score, mean ± SD
Biopsy of receipt	31 (59.6)	63 (63.6)	0.631
HAI	8.9 ± 3.8	8.2 ± 2.8	0.356
Fibrosis score	2.9 ± 1.3	2.7 ± 1.4	0.681

¹Student’s t test. RVR: Rapid virological response; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; EVR: Early virological response; ETR: End of treatment response; SVR: Sustained virological response; HAI: Histological activity index.

Table 2 Comparison of baseline characteristics and virological responses according to the initial alanine aminotransferase level in patients with and without rapid virological response n (%)

	Patients with RVR (Group 1)		P1value	Patients without RVR (Group 2)		P1value
	Initial abnormal	Initial normal		Initial abnormal	Initial normal
	ALT level	ALT level		ALT level	ALT level
	(Group 1h,n= 33)	(Group 1n,n= 19)		(Group 2h,n= 49)	(Group 2n,n= 50)
Age, yr	54.3 ± 13.8	58.6 ± 8.3	0.222	56.6 ± 12.6	59.2 ± 9.2	0.246
Male	18 (54.6)	6 (31.6)	0.114	26 (53.1)	25 (50.0)	0.763
Initial ALT (IU/ L)	122.4 ± 125.3	26.4 ± 8.2	0.002	78.1 ± 43.9	26.8 ± 7.4	0.000
HCV RNA (log10 IU/mL)	5.6 ± 0.9	5.1 ± 1.4	0.139	6.2 ± 0.9	6.1 ± 0.7	0.748
cEVR	33 (100)	19 (100)	NA	29 (59)	29 (58)	0.906
ETR	30 (91)	18 (95)	0.626	26 (53)	30 (60)	0.491
SVR	43 (82)	40 (84)	0.83	18 (37)	22 (44)	0.466
ISHAK Score, mean ± SD
Biopsy of receipt	17 (51.5)	14 (73.7)	0.121	33 (67.4)	30 (60)	0.453
HAI	9.6 ± 3.7	8.0 ± 3.9	0.257	8.7 ± 2.6	7.7 ± 3.0	0.164
Fibrosis score	2.9 ± 1.2	2.9 ± 1.4	0.957	3.0 ± 1.4	2.4 ± 1.4	0.100

¹Student’s t test. RVR: Rapid virological response; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; EVR: Early virological response; ETR: End of treatment response; SVR: Sustained virological response; HAI: Histological activity index.

Table 3 Comparison of sustained virological response in patients with high and normalized alanine aminotransferase levels at week 4, 8, 12, 24, 48 and 72 in patients with and without rapid virological response

	Initial abnormal ALT level in patients		P2value	Initial abnormal ALT level in patients		P1value
	with RVR (Group 1h,n= 33)			without RVR (Group 2h,n= 49)
	Follow-up	Follow-up		Follow-up	Follow-up
	abnormal ALT	normalized ALT		abnormal ALT	normalized ALT
After 4 wk
No. of patients	18	15		29	20
SVR rate	78	87	0.525	34	40	0.701
After 8 wk
No. of patients	9	24		18	31
SVR rate	56	88	0.049	11	52	0.004
After 12 wk
No. of patients	6	27		17	32
SVR rate	50	89	0.028	12	50	0.007
After 24 wk
No. of patients	5	28		15	34
SVR rate	40	89	0.001	7	50	0.003
After 48 wk
No. of patients	4	29		17	32
SVR rate	25	90	0.006	6	53	0.001
After 72 wk
No. of patients	4	29		21	28
SVR rate	25	90	0.006	0	64	0.000

¹Student’s t test; ²Student’s χ² test. RVR: Rapid virological response; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; SVR: Sustained virological response.