End-of-treatment virologic response does not predict relapse after lamivudine treatment for chronic hepatitis B.
OBJECTIVE
Attaining hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion during lamivudine treatment is associated with fewer relapses in HBeAg-positive patients. In HBeAg-negative patients, predictors for post-treatment relapse remain largely unknown. We therefore studied whether end-of-treatment virologic response correlated with relapse after lamivudine treatment.


METHODS
We prospectively analyzed 12 HBeAg-negative patients and 14 HBeAg-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B, who received at least 9 mo of lamivudine treatment and were followed up for 12 mo post-treatment. Relapse of hepatitis B activity was defined by an elevation of serum ALT level above twice the upper limit of normal as well as reappearance of serum HBV DNA by the branched DNA assay or HBeAg during the follow-up period. The serum viral loads during and at the end of treatment were further determined by a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay.


RESULTS
Relapse occurred in 6 (50.0%) HBeAg-negative patients within 12 mo post-treatment. Two relapsers had end-of-treatment serum viral load <1 000 copies/mL, the proportion was not significantly different from that in the 6 non-relapsers (33.3% vs 16.7%; P = 1.00). Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels did not correlate with post-treatment relapse in HBeAg-positive patients either. However, genotype C patients tended to have a lower relapse rate than genotype B patients (14.3% vs 57.9%, P = 0.08).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that end-of-treatment virologic response cannot predict post-treatment relapse in patients with HBeAg-negative or -positive chronic hepatitis B. The impact of HBV genotype on the response to lamivudine treatment awaits further studies.
Liu
Chun-Jen
CJ
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, China.
Huang
Wen-Ling
WL
Chen
Pei-Jer
PJ
Lai
Ming-Yang
MY
Kao
Jia-Horng
JH
Chen
Ding-Shinn
DS
D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005838:Genotype; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D019259:Lamivudine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
D004279:DNA, Viral; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D019259:Lamivudine