title: Observation of genotype C infected chronic hepatitis B patients in clinical practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C is prevalent in many areas of the world including Thailand and Southeast Asia. It is a strong risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by evidence. We aimed to describe the baseline clinical information of treatment naïve genotype C infected chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and to describe the treatment response by surrogate outcome markers in genotype C infected CHB patients after one year of nucleos(t)ide analogues (NA) treatment
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four genotype C CHB patients were studied at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Bangkok, including 12 patients treated with lamivudine, 11 with telbivudine, 8 with adefovir, and 3 with entecavir. Serum HBV DNA levels, serum alanine amino transferase ( ALT ) levels, HBeAg status, and alpha-feto protein (AFP) levels were recorded at the start and after twelve months of ongoing treatment. HBV genotyping was performed by line-probe assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About half of the patients (58.8%) were HBeAg positive. Mean HBV viral load was 6.53 + 1.15 log10 copies per ml at baseline and reduced to 3.63 + 1.3 log10 copies per ml after one year of NA treatment. Serum HBV DNA levels became undetectable in 47.1 % of the patients and serum ALT was normalized in 23.5 % of the patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most of the genotype C patients were aged above 40 years. More than half of the genotype C infected patients did not achieve virological response and biochemical remission. Among the CHB patients, genotype C infected patients are a high priority group for intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. dr.myonyeinaung@gmail.com
authors.forename: Myo Nyein
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Aung
authors.forename: Wattana
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Leowattana
authors.forename: Noppadon
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tangpukdee
authors.forename: Chatporn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kittitrakul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D004279:DNA, Viral; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; D000410:Alanine Transaminase