Effects of long-term interferon-alpha therapy on maintenance of T lymphocyte replicative potential

Investigators:

Principal Investigator: Alan Rothman

Hypotheses/Aims

Sustained interferon therapy is hypothesized to result in accelerated erosion of telomeres in memory and naive T lymphocyte sub-populations. The study�s aim is to determine if peripheral blood T lymphocyte populations show statistically significant differences in changes in telomere lengths between hepatitis-C virus (HCV) non-responders receiving the 24-week course of high-dose followed by long-term interferon therapy and those receiving only the shorter, 24-week course of interferon.