[The evaluation of hyaluronic acid and laminin concentration in serum in children with chronic hepatitis B treated with lamivudine, unresponsive to previous interferon-alpha therapy].
THE AIM OF THE STUDY was to evaluate prospectively serum hyaluronic acid (HA) and laminin (LAM) concentration in children with chronic hepatitis B (chB) during lamivudine treatment.


METHODS
The observation was carried out on 40 children (29 boys and 11 girls), aged 4-17 yrs with biopsy proven chB who were nonresponders to previous IFN alpha therapy. Lamivudine was given in the dose of 3-4mg/kg/day up to 100 mg/day. The concentration of HA and LAM were measured with EIA technique in serum (CORGENIX and TAKARA kits respectively) before and after 12 months of therapy.


RESULTS
After 12 months of therapy mean serum concentration of HA and LAM were lower then before treatment (20.3 +/- 13.3 vs 26.1 +/- 18.2 ng/ml, p=0.0112; 430 +/- 93 vs 455 +/- 161 ng/ml, p=NS respectively). The decrease of HA concentration was observed in subgroups of both responders and nonresponders (21.9 +/- 10.9 vs 26.1 +/- 10.6, p=NS; 20.1 +/- 13.7 vs 26.1 +/- 19.0, p=0.01 resp.).


CONCLUSIONS
The decrease of HA and LAM serum concentration may suggest that lamivudine treatment inhibits liver fibrosis. Further studies with liver morphology evaluation are needed to confirm antifibrotic effect of lamivudine in children with chB.
III Klinika Chorób Dzieci Akademii Medycznej w Białymstoku.
Elzbieta
E
Skiba
Dariusz Marek
DM
Lebensztejn
Irena
I
Werpachowska
Maciej
M
Kaczmarski
D000293:Adolescent; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007797:Laminin / Q000097:blood*; D019259:Lamivudine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D007797:Laminin; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D019259:Lamivudine; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid