title: Impact of hepatitis B exposure on sustained virological response rates of highly viremic chronic hepatitis C patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) seropositivity in sustained virological response (SVR) rates in treatment-naïve, chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients with high pretreatment viral load (>800000 IU/mL).
  
  
  METHODS
  185 consecutive CHC patients (14.4% cirrhotics, 70.2% prior intravenous drug users) treated with pegylated interferon-a2b plus ribavirin, for 24 or 48 weeks based on viral genotype, were retrospectively analyzed. SVR was confirmed by undetectable serum HCV-RNA six months after the end of treatment schedule.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty percent of CHC/HBsAg-negative patients were anti-HBc-positive. Anti-HBc positivity was more prevalent in cirrhotic, compared to noncirrhotic patients (76.9% versus 19.5%, P < .05). Serum HBV-DNA was detected in the minority of anti-HBc-positive patients (1.97%). Overall, 62.1% of patients exhibited SVR, while 28.6% did not; 71.4% of non-SVRs were infected with genotype 1. In the univariate analysis, the anti-HBc positivity was negatively associated with treatment outcome (P = .065). In the multivariate model, only the advanced stage of liver disease (P = .015) and genotype-1 HCV infection (P = .003), but not anti-HBc-status (P = .726), proved to be independent predictors of non-SVR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum anti-HBc positivity does not affect the SVR rates in treatment-naïve CHC patients with high pretreatment viral load, receiving the currently approved combination treatment.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Internal Medicine, Hepatology Unit, "Elena Venizelou" Hospital, 11521 Athens, Greece. ielefs@acn.gr
authors.forename: Ioannis S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Elefsiniotis
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pavlidis
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vezali
authors.forename: Theodoros
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mariolis-Sapsakos
authors.forename: Sotirios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koutsounas
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Saroglou