title: An overview of treatment response rates to various anti-viral drugs in Pakistani hepatitis B virus infected patients.
abstract: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the leading health problem with up to 350 million affected people worldwide including 4.5 million only in Pakistan. It has mortality rate of 0.5 to 1.2 million per year worldwide. Pakistan lies in the endemic region with 3-5% HBV carrier rate in the country. The present article reviews the literature on the treatment response of HBV prevalent in Pakistani population. The average treatment response of Lamivudine and interferon-α is 25.81% and 47.95%, respectively. Peg-Interferon was shown to be not effective against the HBV/HCV (hepatitis C virus)/HDV (hepatitis Delta virus) co-infection. The present study reveals that interferon-α is the most effective therapy available for HBV infection prevalent in Pakistani population. Genotype C & D are the most common HBV genotypes in Pakistan and are associated with increased severity and less response to interferon therapy. This poses a great challenge for physicians and researchers and further studies are needed to describe the outcome of the current therapies recommended against HBV infection in Pakistani population.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Virology, National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab, 87-West Canal Bank Road, Thoker Niaz Baig, Lahore 53700, Pakistan. liaqatbiotech@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Liaqat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Idrees
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Irshad-ur
authors.initials: IU
authors.lastname: Rehman
authors.forename: Abrar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.forename: Samia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Afzal
authors.forename: Sadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Butt
authors.forename: Sana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saleem
authors.forename: Saira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Munir
authors.forename: Sadaf
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Badar
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019259:Lamivudine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010154:Pakistan; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D019259:Lamivudine; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; C100416:peginterferon alfa-2a