Secondary prevention of recurrence by interferon therapy after ablation therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis C patients

Table 1 Univariate and multivariate analyses on the carcinogenic factors for HCC in patients with HCV cirrhosis

		Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
Variables	Number of patients	P-value1	RR2	95% CI	P-value3	RR2	95% CI
Sex
Male	85	P= 0.001	1.971	1.298-2.991	P = 0.005	2.107	1.198-2.987
Female	80		1			1
Alcohol
Yes	49	P= 0.012	1.681	1.108-2.550	NS (P = 0.496)	1.234	0.673-2.262
No	116		1			1
ALT
≥ 100	77	P= 0.013	1.657	1.103-2.489	NS (P = 0.876)	1.050	0.572-1.927
< 100	88		1			1
LDH
≥ 480	74	NS (P= 0.064)	-	-	NS (P = 0.112)	0.673	0.413-1.096
< 480	91					1
HCV-RNA
≥ 1.0 Meq/mL	110	P= 0.018	1.709	1.086-2.695	P = 0.028	1.658	1.125-2.315
< 1.0 Meq/mL	55		1			1
Ant i-HBc
Positive	78	NS (P = 0.834)	-	-	NS (P = 0.577)	1.136	0.724-1.782
Negative	87					1

¹P-values were obtained by using the log-rank test;

²RR were calculated by comparing classes with Cox regression analysis;

³P-values were obtained by using Cox regression analysis. RR: Relative risks; CI: Confidence interval; NS: Not significant.

Table 2 Univariate and multivariate analyses of the carcinogenic factors for HCC in male patients with HCV cirrhosis

		Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
Variables	Number of patients	P-value1	RR2	95% CI	P-value3	RR2	95% CI
Age (yr)
≥ 60	43	P = 0.032	1.726	1.032-2.881	P = 0.035	4.469	1.271-5.723
< 60	42		1			1
Alcohol
Yes	45	P = 0.826	1.058	0.632-1.771	NS (P = 0.676)	0.877	0.473-1.025
No	40		1			1
Smoking
Yes	36	P = 0.566	0.863	0.517-1.440	NS (P = 0.696)	0.893	0.504-1.580
No	49		1			1
AST
≥ 100	47	P = 0.213	1.376	0.824-2.298	NS (P = 0.151)	1.863	0.797-4.350
< 100	38		1			1
ALT
≥ 100	46	P = 0.805	1.064	0.643-1.763	NS (P = 0.485)	0.752	0.337-1.667
< 100	39		1			1
γ-GTP
≥ 80	41	P = 0.509	1.182	0.714-1.954	NS (P = 0.561)	1.178	0.679-2.041
< 80	44		1			1
Anti-HBc
Positive	43	P = 0.111	1.522	0.898-2.577	NS (P = 0.099)	1.609	0.914-2.835
Negative	42		1			1

¹P-values were obtained by using the log-rank test;

²RR were calculated by comparing classes with Cox regression analysis;

³P-values were obtained by using Cox regression analysis. RR: Relative risks; CI: Confidence interval; NS: Not significant.

Table 3 Studies in which IFN was administered after treatments for HCV-related HCC in Japan

Authors	Treated vs untreated	Treatment	Follow-up (mo)	Recurrence (%)	Survival (%)
Ikeda[21]	20 vs 10	IFN-β	25	10 vs 70
				(P = 0.0004)
Kubo[22]	15 vs 15	IFN-α	36	33 vs 80
				(P = 0.037)
Suou[23]	18 vs 28	IFN-α	60	28 vs 82	0 vs 27
				(P < 0.01)	(P < 0.05)
Shiratori[24]	49 vs 25	IFN-α	84	80 vs 921	53 vs 23

¹IFN therapy did not markedly lower the rate of recurrence the first time, it significantly lowered the rate of recurrence the second and third times.