INFLUENCE OF VITAMIN D ASSOCIATED TO PEGYLATED INTERFERON-ALPHA AND RIBAVIRIN IN SUSTAINED VIROLOGICAL RESPONSE IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS C

Abstract

The aim of this work is to evaluate the influence of vitamin D in the hepatitis C treatment with pegylated interferonalpha and ribavirin. Relevant scientific articles, published between 2000 and 2015, were used for this review. Several
covered studies showed that higher levels of vitamin D were associated with rapid response to treatment and increased SVR rate, suggesting that vitamin D deficiency may be related to a lack of response to antiviral treatment. The influence of polymorphism of IL28B gene in association with vitamin D was also evaluated. The studies found that vitamin D and polymorphism of the IL28B gene are indicators that act independently to achieve SVR. When evaluated, studies on vitamin D supplementation observed higher SVR rates in patients who received supplementation compared with patients who only used the conventional therapy, demonstrating that Vitamin D can have a positive impact on the efficacy of treatment in patients with either genotype difficult to answer as the best prognosis genotypes. However, the mechanisms by which the vitamin D and its metabolites increase the efficacy of anti-HCV therapy and RVs are still not entirely clear. The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency associated with poor response to treatment and high SVR in patients with
higher serum levels of vitamin D have shown that vitamin D is an independent predictor strongly associated with SVR.