Clin Mol Hepatol.  2013 Dec;19(4):409-416. 10.3350/cmh.2013.19.4.409.

HBsAg level and clinical course in patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with nucleoside analogue: five years of follow-up data

• Kim JH
• Choi YJ
• Moon HW
• Ko SY
• Choe WH
• Kwon SY

• KMID: 1730887
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3350/cmh.2013.19.4.409

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Quantification of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is increasingly used to determine the treatment response in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). However, there are limited data about the clinical implications of Quantification of HBsAg long-term nucleoside analogue treatment for CHB. We investigated the clinical correlation between HBsAg level and clinical course in patients with CHB who are treated long-term with nucleoside analogues.
METHODS
Patients with CHB who started lamivudine or entecavir monotherapy before June 2007 were enrolled. HBsAg was quantified at baseline, at 6 months, and at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years of treatment. We compared data between the groups according to the presence or absence of a virological response (VR) and resistance.
RESULTS
Forty-eight patients were analyzed. There was no definite reduction in HBsAg level during the early period of treatment; differences in HBsAg levels between baseline and each time point were significant only at 5 years (P=0.028). In a subgroup analysis, this difference was significant only in non-resistant patients at 5 years (P=0.041).
CONCLUSIONS
There was no definite decrease in the HBsAg level during the early period of nucleoside analogue treatment, with long-term treatment being required to observe a significant reduction.

Keyword

HBsAg; Chronic hepatitis B; Lamivudine; Entecavir; Resistance

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Antiviral Agents/*therapeutic use
DNA, Viral/blood
Drug Resistance, Viral/genetics
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Guanine/*analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/*blood
Hepatitis B, Chronic/*drug therapy
Humans
Lamivudine/*therapeutic use
Male
Middle Aged
Retrospective Studies
Antiviral Agents
DNA, Viral
Guanine
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens
Lamivudine