Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy after treatment with interferon-α

Abstract

Interferon-α (IFN-α), though widely used for the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis, may be associated with the occurrence of autoimmune disorders. In this case report, a patient with chronic hepatitis C virus infection had chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) after the initiation of IFN-α therapy. The neurological symptoms of this patient continued to progress even though the treatment with IFN-α had been withdrawn; the symptoms improved dramatically following treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin. This case may therefore provide an important clue to understand the immune mechanism of CIDP and IFN-α. © 2009 The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine.