title: Anti-viral therapy in chronic HBV infection: a single centre experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Current treatment of HBV chronic infection is based on interferon (IFN) or nucleoside/nucleotide analogs (NUCs). Seroconversion and resistance rates were evaluated in 135 HBV patients treated with NUCs alone or NUCs+IFN, during the period 1999-2009.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven patients were treated with lamivudine (LAM group), 62 with LAM+IFN for 12 months, followed by lamivudine alone (LAM+IFN group). Patients developing lamivudine resistance were added adefovir (add-on) or switched to entecavir. The remaining 46 naive patients received entecavir (ETV group).
  
  
  RESULTS
  HBsAg loss was 0% in the LAM and ETV groups, while it reached 8% in the LAM+IFN group. HBe/anti-HBe seroconversion was 20% with NUCs alone but reached 66.6% with NUC+IFN. In the LAM group, resistance was 74% to lamivudine, 47% to adefovir (add-on) and 20% to entecavir (switch). In the LAM+IFN group, resistance to lamivudine was significantly lower in the first 24 months of treatment, reaching 72% by 84 months. In the ETV group, no virological breakthrough was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest a higher percentage of HBe/anti-HBe seroconversion in patients treated with NUCs+IFN as compared to the data reported in the literature when administering interferon or NUCs alone, and substantially confirm the literature data on NUCs resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iannone
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Corvace
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanzi
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Montenegro
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Licinio
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Leo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019259:Lamivudine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D019259:Lamivudine; D007372:Interferons