Assessment at the 4-week posttreatment follow-up

was optional. End-of-treatment virological response was defined as undetectable serum HCV-RNA at the end of therapy. A nonresponse was defined as detectable serum HCV-RNA at the end of treatment. Virological relapse (VR) was defined as undetectable serum HCV-RNA at the end of treatment and detectable serum HCV-RNA at the W+24 posttreatment follow-up. SVR was defined as undetectable serum HCV-RNA at the W+24 posttreatment follow-up. Serum samples were prospectively evaluated by the VERSANT HCV-RNA Qualitative Assay (HCV Qual [TMA], Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Saint Denis, France) with a detection limit of 9.6 IU/mL.20 Serum HCV-RNA was retrospectively quantified by the VERSANT HCV-RNA 3.0 (bDNA) Assay (Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Saint Denis, France) (quantification range, 615-7,690,000 IU/mL).21 All serum samples buy Small molecule library were

AG-014699 solubility dmso stored at −80°C within 90 minutes after collection. Patients’ descriptive statistics were reported. Continuous variables are summarized as the mean ± standard deviation, categorical variables as frequency and percentage. Results are expressed as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Serum samples were tested for the presence or absence of HCV-RNA. The positive predictive value (PPV) was defined as the probability that the outcome of interest (i.e., undetectable serum HCV-RNA) occurs in patients fulfilling the criteria Niclosamide at 12 weeks and 24 weeks after treatment cessation. The comparison of continuous variables at different time points (outcome of posttreatment viral load) was performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Of 781 patients, 573 (73%) had an end-of-treatment virological response and were included in the study. At the end of the W+24 posttreatment follow-up, 408 (71%) patients were SVR and 165 (29%) patients had a virological relapse. Response rates and baseline patient characteristics according to treatment schedule

are shown in Table 1. Among this cohort, fibrosis stages were: F1, 33%; F2, 33%; F3, 19%; and F4, 15% (Table 1). At the end of therapy, serum alanine aminotransferase levels were 43± 42 IU/mL (range, 8-325) and 45 ± 43 IU/mL (range, 4-337) in SVR and VR patients, respectively (not significant), and 44 ± 44 IU/mL (range, 5-337) and 43 ± 42 IU/mL (range, 8-287) in patients treated with PEG-IFNα-2a and PEG-IFNα-2b, respectively (not significant). The virological status of the patients according to the posttreatment schedule is shown in Table 2. Of the 573 patients with end-of-treatment virological response, 337 (59%) underwent a follow-up visit 4 weeks after treatment cessation. Serum HCV-RNA was undetectable in 252 (74.8%) patients, and 242 of these demonstrated an SVR (PPV 96.0%, 95% CI 93.9-98.1) (Table 2). The PPVs were 95.4% (95% CI 92.0-98.80) and 96.4% (95% CI 93.7-99.0) in patients treated with PEG-IFNα-2a and PEG-IFNα-2b, respectively.