skin reaction in antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis c a role for polyethylene glycol interferon

In the past decade, different modalities of antiviral therapy have been adopted aimed at eradicating hepatitis C virus infection. Initially, interferon was used in monotherapy, then interferon combined with ribavirin and amantadine. Recently, interferon has been conjugated with polyethylene glycol to allow optimization of its pharmacokinetic properties and to improve its antiviral activity. This study focused on the characteristics of the skin reactions that we observed in 27 patients with naive hepatitis C who received polyethylene glycol interferon-ribavirin-amantadine or polyethylene glycol interferon-ribavirin and in 10 previous non-responders to interferon monotherapy who were retreated with triple therapy. In 9 patients (7 on triple therapy) dermatitis-like lesions were observed, and in 5 the severity of the lesions necessitated withdrawal from therapy

Derangement of the T-cell repertoire in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Although a number of studies suggest that different immune pathways may play a role in the pathogenesis of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL), the shape of the T-cell compartment has been only superficially explored in these patients. In our study, we analyzed the peripheral T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire and the distribution of different T-cell subsets – including regulatory T cells (Treg) – in 30 patients with NHL, by combining flow cytometry and spectratyping. We first demonstrated by flow cytometry an increased frequency of expanded T-cell subpopulations expressing the same TCR beta variable (BV) subfamilies in CD8+ cells from NHL patients when compared with healthy controls, beside a higher frequency of Treg. Moreover, NHL patients were characterized by a higher percentage of BVs showing a skewed CDR3 profile both in CD4+ and CD8+ cells when analyzed by spectratyping. Our data suggest that the T-cell branch of the immune system of patients with B-cell NHL is deeply deranged, as witnessed by the increased degree of activation and skewing of their TCR repertoire along with the higher frequency of Treg