[Treatment of chronic hepatitis B. Part 2: Effect of glycyrrhizic acid on the course of illness].
OBJECTIVE
Testing of the therapeutic efficacy of Remefa S, a pharmaceutical comprising glycyrrhizinic acid, the major active substance of licorice, on the evolution of the disease in late chronic viral hepatitis B.


METHODS
Prospective evaluation of the biochemical, virus-serological and histomorphological data (blind liver aspiration, laparoscopy) during and following 12 months of application (three times a week, short infusions) of Remefa S, and comparison with the course of the disease (12 months) prior to treatment.


METHODS
Intermediate report on an ongoing multicentre study begun in 1989, with evaluation of 7 subjects receiving the preparation and 3 controls after 12 months of treatment and 10 months of follow-up.


RESULTS
During or after treatment, 4 patients experienced a regression of biochemical disease activity. In 2 of the 4 patients, during treatment, an HBe-Ag seroconversion occurred for the first time and has persisted (to date 10 months); in another patient with no detectable HBe-Ag prior to treatment, HBe antibodies were formed under treatment, and have persisted to the present time. In 2 of these responders, histology also revealed an unequivocal reduction in disease activity. In contrast, HBs-Ag seroconversion was observed in none of the patients treated. Since in these three patients the virus genome was already integrated within the chromosome of the host cell (hybridization), this had not been expected from the start.


CONCLUSIONS
Intravenous chronic application (12 months) of glycyrrhizinic acid in the form of Remefa S in patients with chronic viral hepatitis B, is capable of exercising a positive effect on the evolution of the disease. On the basis of the results obtained so far (30-40% success rate), a comparison with the results obtained with interferon suggests itself.
Eisenburg
J
J
Internen Abteilung, Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Brüder, München.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006034:Glycyrrhetinic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019695:Glycyrrhizic Acid; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D019695:Glycyrrhizic Acid; D006034:Glycyrrhetinic Acid
Behandlung der chronischen Hepatitis B. Teil 2: Wirkung von Glyzyrrhizinsäure auf den Krankheitsverlauf.