Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 6, 2019; 7(9): 1043-1052
Published online May 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i9.1043
Sofosbuvir/Ribavirin therapy for patients experiencing failure of ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir + ribavirin therapy: Two cases report and review of literature
Ken Sato, Yuichi Yamazaki, Takeshi Kobayashi, Satoshi Takakusagi, Norio Horiguchi, Satoru Kakizaki, Masayasu Andou, Yoshihiro Matsuda, Toshio Uraoka, Hiroshi Ohnishi, Hiroaki Okamoto
Ken Sato, Yuichi Yamazaki, Takeshi Kobayashi, Satoshi Takakusagi, Norio Horiguchi, Satoru Kakizaki, Toshio Uraoka, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
Masayasu Andou, Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
Yoshihiro Matsuda, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
Hiroshi Ohnishi, Hiroaki Okamoto, Division of Virology, Department of Infection and Immunity, Jichi Medical University School of Medicine, Shimotsuke, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
Author contributions: Sato K designed the study and drafted the article and analyzed and interpreted the data; Yamazaki Y, Kobayashi T, Takakusagi S, Horiguchi N, Kakizaki S, and Uraoka T analyze the data. Andou M, Matsuda Y assisted the diagnosis and interpreted the data. Ohnishi H analyzed the virological data. Okamoto H approved the final version to be published. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent to publish was obtained from the patients.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. However, K.S. received research funding from AbbVie, Inc., MSD K.K., and BMS K.K and lecture fees from AbbVie, Inc., MSD K.K., BMS K.K., and Gilead Sciences, Inc. for works outside of the submitted work. S.K. received research funding and lecture fees from AbbVie, Inc., MSD K.K., BMS K.K., and Gilead Sciences, Inc. for works outside of the submitted work.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ken Sato, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-39-15 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan. satoken@gunma-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-27-2208127 Fax: +81-27-2208127
Received: December 26, 2018
Peer-review started: December 27, 2018
First decision: January 19, 2019
Revised: February 23, 2019
Accepted: March 16, 2019
Article in press: March 16, 2019
Published online: May 6, 2019
Core Tip

Core tip: The effectiveness of sofosbuvir/ribavirin (SOF/RBV) therapy was unknown for patients who experienced failure of ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir plus ribavirin therapy and had hepatitis C virus genotype 2. Although there were only 2 patients, SOF/RBV therapy was effective. However, both patients experienced adverse events including unanticipated development or deterioration of autoimmune diseases. Because SOF/RBV therapy is generally well-tolerated, one of the patients was considered a specific case. However, the cases suggest SOF/RBV therapy should be carefully applied in case of the existence of baseline autoimmune disease. Our case reports warrant future studies, but careful observation during and after treatment is required.