Hemoglobin Decrease with Iron Deficiency Induced by Daclatasvir plus Asunaprevir Combination Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1b.

• Main Authors: Nobuyuki Matsumoto, Hiroki Ikeda, Ryuta Shigefuku, Nobuhiro Hattori, Tsunamasa Watanabe, Kotaro Matsunaga, Tetsuya Hiraishi, Tomohiro Tamura, Yohei Noguchi, Yasunobu Fukuda, Toshiya Ishii, Chiaki Okuse, Akira Sato, Michihiro Suzuki, Fumio Itoh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4798293?pdf=render
• ISSN: 1932-6203

BACKGROUND:Decreased hemoglobin (Hb) level has been supposed to be a relatively rare side effect of a combination therapy against hepatitis C virus that consists of the NS5A inhibitor daclatasvir (DCV) and the NS3/4A protease inhibitor asunaprevir (ASV). METHODS:The study was conducted in 75 patients with genotype 1b chronic hepatitis C virus infection who had started combination therapy with DCV and ASV at St. Marianna University School of Medicine Hospital between September 2014 and December 2014. RESULTS:Among the patients examined, decreased Hb level by ≥1.5 g/dL from the values at treatment initiation was observed in 11 individuals. This was accompanied by decreased mean corpuscular volume, and iron and ferritin levels. CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest that the mechanism of the phenomenon is caused by iron deficiency. The underlying mechanism and clinical impacts will need to be further examined.