scholarly journals Pegylated Interferon Treatment for the Effective Clearance of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen in Inactive HBsAg Carriers: A Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aixin Song ◽  
Xiao Lin ◽  
Junfeng Lu ◽  
Shan Ren ◽  
Zhenhuan Cao ◽  
...  

BackgroundExpanding antiviral therapy to benefit more populations and optimizing treatment to improve prognoses are two main objectives in current guidelines on antiviral therapy. However, the guidelines do not recommend antiviral therapy for inactive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers (IHCs). Recent studies have shown that antiviral therapy is effective with good treatment outcomes in IHC populations. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of HBsAg clearance and conversion in IHCs.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, Medline, and Web of Science to retrieve articles on HBsAg clearance in IHCs published between January 2000 and August 2021. Data were collected and analysed using the random-effects model for meta-analysis.ResultsA total of 1029 IHCs from 11 studies were included in this analysis. The overall HBsAg clearance rate was 47% (95% confidence interval (CI): 31% - 64%), with a conversion rate of 26% (95% CI: 15% - 38%) after 48 weeks of Pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) treatment. In the control group (including nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) treatment or no treatment), the overall HBsAg clearance rate was only 1.54% (95% CI: 0.56% - 3.00%), which was markedly lower than that in the Peg-IFN group. Further analysis showed that a low baseline HBsAg level and long treatment duration contributed to a higher HBsAg clearance rate.ConclusionThis study showed that treatment of IHCs can be considered to achieve a clinical cure for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. After Peg-IFN treatment, the HBsAg clearance rate was 47%, and the conversion rate was 26%, which are markedly higher than those reported by previous studies on Peg-IFN treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). A low baseline HBsAg level and long treatment duration were associated with HBsAg clearance in IHCs. Therefore, antiviral therapy is applicable for IHCs, a population who may be clinically cured.Systematic Review Registrationhttp://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO, CRD): CRD42021259889.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yandi Xie ◽  
Rui Jin ◽  
Guangjun Song ◽  
Hui Ma ◽  
Bo Feng

Abstract Background To address the possibility of safe cessation of nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) therapy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and to identify factors associated with off-NAs virological relapse (VR). Methods A published work search was performed to identify all published studies including patients who ceased NAs and were followed for ≥12 months. A meta-analysis was performed. Results Twenty-six studies involving 2573 patients who discontinued NAs were included. The pooled rate of off-NAs VR was 0.63, being lower in initially hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive than HBeAg-negative patients (0.57 versus 0.62, P = 0.732). The pooled rates of VR were 0.47, 0.55, 0.61, 0.51, 0.73 and 0.64 at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months after NAs cessation, respectively, being relatively lower in initially HBeAg–positive (0.31, 0.45, 0.55, 0.44, 0.48, 0.52) than HBeAg-negative patients (0.50, 0.55, 0.69, 0.57, 0.53, 0.68) (P = 0.405). The pooled rate of biochemical relapse was 0.44, being lower in initially HBeAg-positive than HBeAg-negative patients (0.43 versus 0.48, P = 0.554). The pooled rates of hepatitis B surface antigen loss and seroconversion was 0.09 and 0.06, respectively. The pooled rates of VR at 12 months after NAs cessation were significant different between duration of on-NAs virological response ≤24 months and >24 months in all patients (0.55 versus 0.41, P = 0.011), initially HBeAg-positive patients (0.59 versus 0.41, P = 0.031), and initially HBeAg-negative patients (0.53 versus 0.37, P = 0.025). Conclusions Safe cessation of NAs therapy seems to be feasible in a substantial proportion of CHB patients. On-NAs virological response >24 months reduces the risk of off-NAs VR. Stopping NAs treatment may have an impact on long-term HBsAg decline and also HBsAg clearance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yandi Xie ◽  
Rui Jin ◽  
Guangjun Song ◽  
Hui Ma ◽  
Bo Feng

Abstract Backgroud: To address the possibility of safe cessation of nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) therapy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and to identify factors associated with off-NAs virological relapse (VR). Methods: A published work search was performed to identify all published studies including patients who ceased NAs and were followed for ≥12 months. A meta-analysis was performed. Results: Twenty-six studies involving 2573 patients who discontinued NAs were included. The pooled rate of off-NAs VR was 0.63, being lower in initially hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive than HBeAg-negative patients (0.57 versus 0.62, P = 0.732). The pooled rates of VR were 0.47, 0.55, 0.61, 0.51, 0.73 and 0.64 at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months after NAs cessation, respectively, being relatively lower in initially HBeAg-positive (0.31, 0.45, 0.55, 0.44, 0.48, 0.52) than HBeAg-negative patients (0.50, 0.55, 0.69, 0.57, 0.53, 0.68) ( P = 0.405). The pooled rate of biochemical relapse was 0.44, being lower in initially HBeAg-positive than HBeAg-negative patients (0.43 versus 0.48, P = 0.554). The pooled rates of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss and seroconversion was 0.09 and 0.06, respectively. The pooled rates of VR at 12 months after NAs cessation were significantly different between duration of on-NAs virological response ≤24 months and >24 months in all patients (0.55 versus 0.41, P = 0.011), initially HBeAg-positive patients (0.59 versus 0.41, P = 0.031), and initially HBeAg-negative patients (0.53 versus 0.37, P = 0.025). Conclusions: Safe cessation of NAs therapy seems to be feasible in a substantial proportion of CHB patients. On-NAs virological response >24 months reduces the risk of off-NAs VR. Stopping NAs treatment may have an impact on long-term HBsAg decline and HBsAg clearance.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Gian Paolo Caviglia ◽  
Angelo Armandi ◽  
Chiara Rosso ◽  
Davide Giuseppe Ribaldone ◽  
Rinaldo Pellicano ◽  
...  

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) covalently-closed-circular (ccc)DNA is the key molecule responsible for viral persistence within infected hepatocytes. The evaluation of HBV cccDNA is crucial for the management of patients with chronic HBV infection and for the personalization of treatment. However, the need for liver biopsy is the principal obstacle for the assessment of intrahepatic HBV cccDNA. In the last decade, several studies have investigated the performance of hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) as a surrogate of HBV cccDNA amount in the liver. In this meta-analysis, we collected 14 studies (1271 patients) investigating the correlation between serum HBcrAg and intrahepatic HBV cccDNA. Serum HBcrAg showed a high correlation with intrahepatic HBV cccDNA (r = 0.641, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.510–0.743, p < 0.001). In a head-to-head comparison, we observed that the performance of HBcrAg was significantly superior to that of hepatitis B surface antigen (r = 0.665 vs. r = 0.475, respectively, p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that the correlation between HBcrAg and intrahepatic HBV cccDNA was high, both in hepatitis B e antigen-positive and -negative patients (r = 0.678, 95% CI 0.403–0.840, p < 0.001, and r = 0.578, 95% CI 0.344–0.744, p < 0.001, respectively). In conclusion, the measurement of serum HBcrAg qualifies as a reliable non-invasive surrogate for the assessment of an intrahepatic HBV cccDNA reservoir.


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