A small open‑label trial gave people with chronic hepatitis B a combo of low‑dose interferon‑alpha and thymosin‑alpha‑1 injections. About 60% cleared the virus from their blood, many normalised liver enzymes, and some even lost the surface antigen, all without serious side effects. The results look promising but need larger, controlled studies.

This open label study was initiated to assess the safety and efficacy of lymphoblastoid interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) and thymosin alpha 1 (T alpha 1) in the treatment of 11 patients with chronic hepatitis B, who had failed to respond to standard IFN-alpha 2b therapy, and in four interferon naive patients. These fifteen hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive and serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA positive patients were given T alpha 1 (1 mg) subcutaneously (s.c.) on 4 consecutive days. Low-dose lymphoblastoid IFN-alpha (3 MU) was administered intramuscularly (i.m.) on the fourth day. Beginning with the second and for the subsequent 25 weeks, patients self-administered T alpha 1 twice weekly in the morning followed, 12 h later, by 3 million units (MU) lymphoblastoid IFN-alpha. Patients were followed-up for 12 months. Nine (60%) of the 15 patients, including six (55%) of the 11 patients previously treated with IFN-alpha 2b, responded by losing serum HBV DNA and normalizing alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values. Six of the nine responders seroconverted to HBsAg negativity. Significant improvements in the Knodell histological activity index were observed in the responders and no significant adverse effects were observed. Combination low-dose lymphoblastoid IFN-alpha and T alpha 1 treatment may provide a safe and potentially effective therapeutic approach in chronic hepatitis B. These results require confirmation in future randomized controlled studies.