Lamivudine and high-dose interferon-alpha combination therapy for naive children with chronic hepatitis B infection.
BACKGROUND
More than half of the children with chronic hepatitis B infection are nonresponders to interferon-alpha. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of lamivudine and interferon-alpha combination therapy after a 3-month lamivudine induction in children with chronic hepatitis B.


METHODS
Twenty naive children were given lamivudine (4 mg/kg per day; maximum, 100 mg) alone for 3 months; then interferon-alpha (10 MU/m, thrice weekly) was added to lamivudine for 6 months. After interferon-alpha was stopped, lamivudine alone was continued for 6 months. Therapy was stopped 6 months after HBeAg seroconversion. Every 3 months, HBV markers were studied and virologic response was defined as HBV DNA negativity, and HBeAg loss with AntiHBe seroconversion.


RESULTS
At the end of 15 months, virologic response was achieved in 11 (55%) of patients and 12 patients (60%) cleared hepatitis B e antigen. Therapy was well tolerated.


CONCLUSIONS
Preliminary results of our study seem to indicate that lamivudine and high-dose interferon-alpha combination therapy after a 3-month lamivudine induction may represent an effective treatment option for children with chronic hepatitis B.
Saltik-Temizel
Inci Nur
IN
Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Ankara, Turkey. isaltik@hacettepe.edu.tr
Koçak
Nurten
N
Demir
Hülya
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019259:Lamivudine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D019259:Lamivudine