View article

High systemic levels of interferon‐gamma‐inducible protein 10 kDa (IP‐10) at onset of combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection predict poor outcome, but details regarding the impact of IP‐10 on the reduction of HCV RNA during therapy remain unclear. In the present study, we correlated pretreatment levels of IP‐10 in liver biopsies (n = 73) and plasma (n = 265) with HCV RNA throughout therapy within a phase III treatment trial (DITTO‐HCV). Low levels of plasma or intrahepatic IP‐10 were strongly associated with a pronounced reduction of HCV RNA during the first 24 hours of treatment in all patients (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.002, respectively) as well as when patients were grouped as genotype 1 or 4 (P = 0.0008 and P = 0.01) and 2 or 3 (P = 0.002, and P = 0.02). Low plasma levels of IP‐10 also were predictive of the absolute reduction of HCV RNA (P < 0.0001) and the maximum reduction …