Is interferon a form of chemo therapy?

[lynne655]

The other question i meant to ask is whether interferon is a form of chemotherapy or not?
Thanks
Lynne

[cheflady]

my hubby just got results of 4wk and viral load is zero.Just want to say that yes the treatment is harsh for all concerned but the news was a tremendous boost and we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. So good luck to everybody this site is brill fantastic long distance support

[SeattleSue54]

I had similar experience 12 years ago. As I understood it, the interferon lowered the ability of my red blood cells to replicate, while the rib. attacked the hep c cells. My doc. explained it was lowered just above the point that it would kill me.
I am still negative(thanks to God) but have had chronic fatigue, IBS, hypothyroidism (extremely high levels now) RA for awhile, fibromyalgia throughout. I had no choice to treat or not because mine was advanced, after 30 years they said, but my quality of life has never been the same. I feel instinctively that my immune system was damaged and I need some kind of blood transfer,
Not to be a downer, everyone is different,. I am grateful to be alive.

[dontworry_behappy1]

Is interferon a form of chemotherapy?
Yes!

[toofrank]

Ribavirin + Interferon may not be, in most people's minds, chemotherapy, but the side effects, to an outside observer, may appear similar.  I was on this regimen for 6 months during which time I felt very nauseous, had little appetite, had a very itchy rash over about 50% of my body and had my weight drop from about 175 down to 135.  I always dreaded the weekly subcutaneous injections but, on an intellectual level, I knew that they were the right thing to do.

[1emmie]

I have had typical chemotherapy for endometrial cancer AND I've gone through 2 rounds of Interferon/ribaviran.   I lost my hair in BOTH ~ almost every bit of ot it and I have VERY thick hair.  After the first Chemotherapy for cancer my hair regrew softer but just as thick.  The first round of Interferon/riba it came back curlier.  The 2nd round of Interferon/riba they lowered the dosage so it only thinned but came back fine.
I ASK my Hepatologist and he said Interferon is a form of chemotherapy and used to treat several types of cancers.  Most people handle the treatment well, but there are those, and I was one, who had horrible side effects such as, medication induced depression, medication induced anorexia (I lost almost 50 lbs), drops in White Blood Cells requiring medical intervention (I was hospitalized 2 times due to this), I developed Sjogren's, Raynaud's, RA (auto immune disorders), neuropathy, lasting chemo fog (I've been off treatment 3 years and still have some minor problems).
Do not think Hepatitis Treatment is 'small time', it's not, it is the only treatment available NOW and does have a history of success, especially with some genotypes.
Do not JUDGE the disease or it's treatment by things you've heard or read as everyone case is so specific and individual ~ there is much misinformation out there about both.
Treatment and early is THE BEST for most people, in my opinion, but know going in that it may not be best for YOU.
SUPPORT RESEARCH INTO OTHER TREATMENTS THAT DO NOT INCLUDE INTERFERON.

[eureka254]

The varied uses of interferon make its 'classification' open to interpretation, especially because it is sometimes used in certain cancer treatments. Because the term "chemo" over the years has become synonymous with 'cancer treatment,' many people don't feel it's appropriate to call hcv treatment chemotherapy, even though as pointed out above the technical definition could encompass it to be considered as such.  

On flip side, there is currently quite a bit of research exploring the possible anti-cancer properties of both interferon and ribavirin.  There is some recent evidence that both may have anti-cancer potential in addition to anti-viral properties -- oncologists and tumor specialists are exploring those possibilities and investigating interferon more recently as a possible anti-cancer agent.  And though for most people, hcv tx is not considered chemo, for my husband, it IS chemo, from both a technical and interpretive standpoint. Because he is fighting liver cancer as well as hcv, for him, treatment is as much about keeping hcv away as it is about keeping hcc at bay.  He has not had any radiation therapy, but he has undergone a session of chemo-embolization for his hcc, and I can certainly attest that it is no picnic -- but hcv treatment isn't a walk in the park either.  If I had to compare the two from his experience, no doubt standard "chemo" is a much more intense and debilitating experience (in terms of both the treatment itself and the side effects) and the discomfort much more severe, but it lasts for a much shorter duration.  (I would say hcv treatment is like Chinese water torture, but chemo treatment is like electric shock torture.)

I think it's important to note that independently, both hcv therapy and cancer therapy affect treated individuals very differently from case to case  -- we've seen people breeze through inf/riba treatment, and then some who are completely debilitated by it.  Similarly for cancer therapy: there are those who tolerate chemo and radiation with moderate side effects, and who cannot tolerate it at all. We can all certainly agree that inf/riba is anti-viral as well as immuno-therapy, but my thinking is the jury is still out on whether or not it's appropriate to call it chemotherapy.
~eureka