Original article—liver, pancreas, and biliary tractSerum Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Quantitation Can Reflect Hepatitis B Virus in the Liver and Predict Treatment Response
Section snippets
Clinical Study
Chronic hepatitis B patients in a randomized trial of 3 different combination regimens of peginterferon alpha-2b (PegIntron; Shering-Plough Corporation, Kenilworth, NJ) and lamivudine (Zeffix; GlaxoSmithKline, Middlesex, UK) were studied.14 On recruitment, all patients had positive HBsAg for at least 6 months and positive HBeAg, serum HBV DNA of at least 1,000,000 copies/mL, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) 1.3 to 10 times the upper limit of normal. Peginterferon was prescribed as
Clinical Characteristics
Among the 26 patients (19 men, 7 women; age 32 ± 9 y) in this analysis, 9 patients had peginterferon and lamivudine started simultaneously, 8 patients had peginterferon commenced 8 weeks before lamivudine, and 9 patients had lamivudine commenced 8 weeks before peginterferon. Twenty patients were infected by genotype C HBV, 5 patients by genotype B HBV, and 1 patient by mixed genotype B and C HBV. The clinical characteristics of patients at baseline and end of treatment are shown in Table 1. At
Discussion
In this study, we have shown that quantitative serum HBsAg was a good surrogate marker for both cccDNA and total intrahepatic HBV DNA. After a course of combination treatment of peginterferon and lamivudine, the reduction in HBsAg correlated well with that of cccDNA and total intrahepatic HBV DNA. Because patients who have lower cccDNA and intrahepatic HBV DNA tend to respond better to the combination treatment, low pretreatment HBsAg level can be considered as a predictor of favorable
References (27)
- et al.
Pegylated interferon alfa-2b alone or in combination with lamivudine for HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B: a randomized trial
Lancet
(2005) - et al.
Durability of response and occurrence of late response to peginterferon alpha-2a (40KD) [Pegasys] one year post-treatment in patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B
J Hepatol
(2006) - et al.
Long-term outcome of hepatitis B e antigen-positive patients with compensated cirrhosis treated with interferon alfa
Hepatology
(1997) - et al.
A treatment algorithm for the management of chronic hepatitis B virus infection in the United States: an update
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol
(2006) - et al.
Hepatitis B e antigen seroconversion after lamivudine therapy is not durable in patients with chronic hepatitis B in Korea
Hepatology
(2000) - et al.
Intrahepatic hepatitis B virus covalently closed circular DNA can be a predictor of sustained response to therapy
Gastroenterology
(2005) - et al.
Persistence of cccDNA during the natural history of chronic hepatitis B and decline during adefovir dipivoxil therapy
Gastroenterology
(2004) - et al.
Quantitation of hepatitis surface antigen by an automated chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay
J Virol Methods
(2004) - et al.
High-throughput quantitative analysis of hepatitis B virus DNA in serum using the TaqMan fluorogenic detection system
Hepatology
(2000) - et al.
Long-term clinical impact of occult hepatitis B virus infection in chronic hepatitis B patients
J Hepatol
(2001)
Prognosis following spontaneous HBsAg seroclearance in chronic hepatitis B patients with or without concurrent infection
Gastroenterology
Interferon alfa therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection
Gastroenterology
Serum alanine aminotransferase flares during interferon treatment of chronic hepatitis B: is sustained clearance of HBV DNA dependent of levels of pretreatment viremia?
Hepatology
Cited by (313)
Interpretation of HBV Serologies
2021, Clinics in Liver DiseaseControversies in Treating Chronic HBV: The Role of PEG-interferon-alfa
2021, Clinics in Liver DiseaseInter-method variability of hepatitis B surface antigen quantification in a cohort of Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis B virus
2021, Arab Journal of GastroenterologySelective detection of HBV pre-genomic RNA in chronic hepatitis B patients using a novel RT-PCR assay
2023, Clinical and Experimental MedicineThe role of HBV cccDNA in occult hepatitis B virus infection
2023, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
This study was supported by the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases, Health, Welfare and Food Bureau, Hong Kong (application number 03040562 to H.L.–Y.C.). H.L.–Y.C. has received a consulting fee from Schering-Plough and Novartis. J.J.–Y.S. has received consulting fees from the National Health Research Institutes of Taipei, the Hong Kong Police Force, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and the Hong Kong College of Physicians, and also has been paid lecture fees by AstraZeneca Hong Kong Limited, GSK Pharmaceuticals International, and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.