Interferon-α therapy May induce insulin autoantibody development in patients with chronic viral hepatitis

Development of type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus has been recently reported in patients who underwent interferon-α (IFN-α) therapy because of chronic viral hepatitis. Furthermore IFN-α seems to be involved in the immunological events that lead toβ-cell destruction and development of type 1 diabetes. To evaluate whether IFN-α treatment could elicit an autoimmune response againstβ-cell antigens, we determined the occurrence of islet cell antibodies and insulin autoantibodies in the sera of 60 patients with HCV- or HBV-related chronic hepatitis who had been treated with IFN-α for 6 or 12 months. The presence of antibodies against thyroglobulin, thyroid microsomal antigen, gastric parietal cells, and non-organ-specific antigens was also investigated. Insulin autoantibody positivity was observed in 2/60 (3.3%), 8/60 (13.3%), and 4/30 (13.3%) patients, before IFN-α treatment, and after 6 months and 12 months of therapy, respectively. None of the studied patients developed islet cell antibodies or type 1 diabetes. Before IFN-α therapy four patients showed thyroid autoantibodies and four others developed antibodies against thyroglobulin and/or thyroid microsomal antigen during the treatment. Coexistence of insulin autoantibodies and thyroid autoantibodies was observed in only two patients. Our results showed that IFN-α therapy in patients with chronic viral hepatitis is capable of inducing development of autoantibodies against insulin. This event seems to be not related to other autoimmune disorders.