Abstract
Chronic hepatitis B infection affects around 240 million people worldwide, with long-term morbidity such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Interferon treatment enhanced HBsAg seroclearance. Pegylated interferon induced a 10-15% yearly rate of HBsAg seroclearance in patients who developed sustained virological response in clinical trials. By contrast, treatment with nucleos (t) ides analogues did not significantly affect the rate of HBsAg seroclearance, especially in patients with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) - negative disease. Recently, it has been shown that a significantly greater proportion of patients receiving tenofovir plus pegylated-interferon for 48 weeks had HBsAg loss than those receiving tenofovir or pegylated-interferon alone. HBsAg clearance is the closest to cure outcome, and there is increasing interest in HBsAg quantification. Quantification of serum HBsAg has also been recently shown to be a promising tool for monitoring virologic response in HBeAg-negative patients treated with pegylated interferon. This chapter reviews Interferon therapy and long-term outcomes.
Abbreviations
- AE:
-
Adverse event
- ALT:
-
Alanine aminotransferase
- AST:
-
Aspartate aminotransferase
- cccDNA:
-
Covalently closed circular DNA
- CHB:
-
Chronic hepatitis B
- ETV:
-
Entecavir
- HBeAg:
-
HBe antigen
- HBsAg:
-
Hepatitis B surface antigen
- HBV:
-
Hepatitis B virus
- IFN:
-
Interferon
- NAs:
-
Nucleos(t)ide analogues
- NI:
-
Nucleoside inhibitors
- NNI:
-
Non-nucleoside inhibitors
- PEG-IFN:
-
Pegylated interferon
- QD:
-
Once daily
- TDF:
-
Tenofovir
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Conflicts of Interest
Tarik Asselah is a speaker and investigator for BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Tibotec, Janssen, Gilead, Roche, and MSD.
Patrick Marcellin is a speaker and investigator for BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Tibotec, Janssen, Gilead, Roche, and MSD.
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Asselah, T., Marcellin, P. (2018). Chronic HBV Infection: Interferon Therapy and Long-Term Outcomes. In: Kao, JH., Chen, DS. (eds) Hepatitis B Virus and Liver Disease. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4843-2_10
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