PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - P Marcellin
AU  - M Pouteau
AU  - M A Loriot
AU  - N Boyer
AU  - F Degos
AU  - P Calès
AU  - L Bettan
AU  - Y Bacq
AU  - H Coppére
AU  - J D Grange
TI  - Adenine arabinoside 5'-monophosphate in patients with chronic hepatitis B: comparison of the efficacy in patients with high and low viral replication.
AID  - 10.1136/gut.36.3.422
DP  - 1995 Mar 01
TA  - Gut
PG  - 422--426
VI  - 36
IP  - 3
4099  - http://gut.bmj.com/content/36/3/422.short
4100  - http://gut.bmj.com/content/36/3/422.full
SO  - Gut1995 Mar 01; 36
AB  - This study compared the response to adenine arabinoside 5'-monophosphate (ARA AMP) in 60 patients with chronic hepatitis B according to the pretreatment serum hepatitis B virus DNA concentration. The level of hepatitis B virus replication was defined as low (30 patients) or high (30 patients) when serum hepatitis B virus DNA concentration was below or above 100 pg/ml, respectively. Patients received a 28 day course of ARA AMP and a second course of ARA AMP was given six months later to patients with persistent hepatitis B virus replication. At the end of the first course of ARA AMP, 11 of the patients (37%) with low replication and one of the patients (3%) with high replication became negative for hepatitis B virus DNA (p = 0.0012); five of the patients (17%) with low replication and none of the patients with high replication had HBe seroconversion (p = 0.06). Two of these five patients lost HBsAg. Kinetics of serum hepatitis B virus DNA during treatment showed a considerable but transient antiviral effect of ARA AMP. Three of 32 retreated patients became negative for hepatitis B virus DNA and one patient had HBe seroconversion. In conclusion, ARA AMP exerts a considerable but transient antiviral effect on hepatitis B virus. Complete and sustained inhibition of hepatitis B virus replication was only obtained in the patients with low hepatitis B virus replication.