AI Article Synopsis

  • The study explores the potential of serum HBV RNA levels as predictors for HBeAg seroconversion in patients undergoing treatment for chronic hepatitis B.
  • Among 61 patients treated, 36.1% achieved HBeAg seroconversion, with lower baseline HBV RNA levels found in responders.
  • Results indicate that specific HBV RNA thresholds at baseline and during treatment can significantly correlate with higher rates of seroconversion, suggesting their value as a predictive tool.

Article Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion represents an endpoint of treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections.

Methods: We have studied whether levels of serum hepatitis B virus ribonucleic acid (HBV RNA) during pegylated interferon alfa-2a treatment might be helpful for predicting HBeAg seroconversion. 61 HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients treated with pegylated interferon alfa-2a alone or in combination with adefovir (10 mg/day) for 48 weeks were included in this retrospective analysis. Response was defined as HBeAg seroconversion at 24 weeks posttreatment. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to identify baseline and on-treatment HBV RNA levels associated with response.

Results: Twenty-two of 61 (36.1%) patients achieved a response. Baseline HBV RNA levels were lower in responders than in nonresponders (4.55 ± 1.19 and 5.90 ± 1.13 copies/mL, respectively, P = 0.001). Baseline HBV RNA cut off level (200,000 copies/mL) provided a positive predictive value (PPV) of 56.0% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 77.8%. HBV RNA level (3000 copies/mL) at week 12 provide a PPV of 75.0% and a NPV of 82.8%. Moreover, HBeAg seroconversion rates at 24 weeks posttreatment were significantly higher in patients with HBV RNA ≤ 200,000 copies/mL at baseline and HBV RNA ≤ 3000 copies/mL at week 12 (92.9%) versus others (12.5%) (All P < 0.05).

Conclusions: In Conclusions, serum HBV RNA levels may serve as a novel tool for prediction of HBeAg seroconversion during therapy with pegylated interferon alfa-2a in HBeAg-positive CHB patients.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6505123PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12985-019-1152-6DOI Listing

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