Evaluation of IFNα bioavailability by MxA mRNA in HCV patients

• Published in: Journal of immunological methods Vol. 262; no. 1; pp. 187 - 190
• Main Authors: Gilli, F., Sala, A., Bancone, C., Salacone, P., Gallo, M., Gaia, E., Bertolotto, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-04-2002; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; HCV; Hepatitis C; Human viral diseases; IFNα therapy; IFNβ; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; MxA mRNA; Quantitative-competitive PCR; Viral diseases; Viral hepatitis; co-GAPDH; IFNβ; MxA mRNA; MS; EtdBr; IFNα therapy; PBMC; IFN; co-MxA; Quantitative-competitive PCR; MxA; qc-PCR; HCV; Hepatitis C; GAPDH; Human; Alpha interferon; Cytokine; Biological marker; Hepatic disease; Bioavailability; Method; Biological activity; Infection; Virus; Polymerase chain reaction; Chemotherapy; Chronic; Messenger RNA; Viral disease; Digestive diseases; Flaviviridae; Hepatitis C virus; Hepacivirus; Quantitative analysis; Viral hepatitis C
• ISSN: 0022-1759; 1872-7905
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-1759(02)00008-X

Previously, we have reported the development of a new quantitative-competitive polymerase chain reaction (qc-PCR) method to evaluate interferon-beta (IFNβ) bioavailability in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, by measuring mRNA of mixovirus resistance protein A (MxA). Here we show that our assay is also able to assess IFNα bioavailability in hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients treated with different IFNα regimens. Indeed, our method was able to detect a slight constitutive expression of MxA mRNA in untreated HCV patients (median=70 fgMxA/pgGAPDH) and a significant induction 12 h after the first IFNα administration (median=750 fgMxA/pgGAPDH).