The other two patients who developed PCH during antiviral therapy showed interface hepatitis with moderate plasma cell infiltration in liver histology and high serum IgG levels. Clinical features of the two patients with PCH during antiviral therapy could not be distinguished

from those of two patients who developed PCH after termination of antiviral therapy. The incidence of PCH in this study was similar to that in patients without antiviral therapy in our previous report, in which the incidence of PCH (de novo AIH) was 2.1% in 633 recipients.[12] Therefore, it is unknown whether antiviral therapy for HCV is involved in the development of PCH. However, in the present cases, PCH occurred immediately after selleck chemicals the termination of antiviral therapy, indicating that the cessation of interferon may have induced the disease. Several studies have shown an association between PCH (de novo AIH) and antiviral therapy for recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation.[2-8] In these studies, most of the patients developed PCH during antiviral therapy, and a few cases of PCH after the termination of antiviral

therapy have been reported. One study demonstrated two cases of de novo AIH that occurred after the end of antiviral therapy for recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation.[13] Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Library high throughput Both patients developed de novo AIH at 1 month after the termination of pegylated interferon plus ribavirin therapy, but hepatitis caused by HCV recurrence was not completely excluded in both cases because the patients’ sera tested positive for HCV RNA after termination of antiviral therapy. Berardi et al. reported nine liver transplant recipients with de novo AIH associated with antiviral treatment for hepatitis C recurrence.[5] While eight patients of the nine in their report had de novo AIH during antiviral therapy,

one patient who achieved SVR click here developed de novo AIH at 1 month after termination of antiviral therapy. Our present cases and these reported cases suggest that PCH can be induced by the termination of antiviral treatment. It is important that PCH is considered in differential diagnoses along with relapse of HCV in patients developing liver dysfunction just after the termination of interferon therapy. The present cases showed elevation of transaminase levels at 1 and 2 months after the cessation of antiviral therapy when the relapse of HCV usually occurs. As it takes several days to obtain the results of serum HCV RNA examination, it would be initially difficult to distinguish HCV relapse from the other causes of liver dysfunction. Liver biopsy should be immediately done and histological diagnosis using the scoring system for PCH is recommended to differentiate it from other causes of liver dysfunction, including hepatitis C relapse in this situation.