PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kim, Gi-Ae
AU  - Lim, Young-Suk
AU  - An, Jihyun
AU  - Lee, Danbi
AU  - Shim, Ju Hyun
AU  - Kim, Kang Mo
AU  - Lee, Han Chu
AU  - Chung, Young-Hwa
AU  - Lee, Yung Sang
AU  - Suh, Dong Jin
TI  - HBsAg seroclearance after nucleoside analogue therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B: clinical outcomes and durability
AID  - 10.1136/gutjnl-2013-305517
DP  - 2014 Aug 01
TA  - Gut
PG  - 1325--1332
VI  - 63
IP  - 8
4099  - http://gut.bmj.com/content/63/8/1325.short
4100  - http://gut.bmj.com/content/63/8/1325.full
SO  - Gut2014 Aug 01; 63
AB  - Objective Little is known about the long-term clinical outcome and durability of HBsAg seroclearance following nucleos(t)ide analogue (NUC) therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Design During a median follow-up period of 6 years (33 567 patient-years) of 5409 CHB patients who were initially treated with lamivudine or entecavir, a total of 110 achieved HBsAg seroclearance (0.33% annual seroclearance rate) and were included in this study. Results Baseline alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level >5 times of upper limit of normal was associated with higher probability of HBsAg seroclearance (HR 1.80, p<0.01), while HBeAg positivity (HR 0.46, p<0.01), high HBV DNA level (log10 IU/mL; HR 0.61, p<0.01), and cirrhosis (HR 0.48, p<0.01) were inversely associated with the probability of HBsAg seroclearance by multivariable analysis. During follow-up for 287 patient-years after HBsAg seroclearance, only two patients with baseline cirrhosis developed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or died (0.7% annual risk), which was of a significantly lower rate compared with propensity score-matched patients without HBsAg seroclearance (HR 0.09, p<0.01). HBsAg reversion and/or HBV DNA reversion occurred in 18 patients, most of which were transient with extremely low serum levels of HBsAg (0.05–1.00 IU/mL) and HBV DNA (17-1818 IU/mL). None required retreatment. The cumulative probability of anti-HBs seroconversion (detection of anti-HBs) at 4 years was 67.4% by Kaplan–Meier analysis. Selection for lamivudine-resistance HBV mutants during treatment was not associated with composite reversion (p=0.66). Conclusions HBsAg seroclearance achieved after NUC treatment was associated with favourable clinical outcomes and was durable in most cases during long-term follow-up.