title: Pretreatment HBeAg level and an early decrease in HBeAg level predict virologic response to entecavir treatment for HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B.
abstract: There are few reports on hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) titres during nucleos(t)ide analogues treatment. We investigated the changes in HBeAg levels in patients treated with entecavir and the usefulness of HBeAg quantification for predicting antiviral response. Ninety-five consecutive HBeAg-positive patients treated with entecavir for more than 48 weeks were enrolled. Serum levels of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), HBeAg and HBV DNA were assessed at 4-week intervals to week 24 and thereafter at 12-week intervals. Virologic response (Y1VR) was defined as an undetectable HBV DNA level at week 48 of therapy. During 48 weeks, HBeAg and HBV DNA level decreased significantly in a biphasic manner and HBsAg level tended to decease. Fifty-three patients (55.8%) attained Y1VR. Pretreatment HBeAg levels were significantly lower in the Y1VR group than in no Y1VR group. At week 4 and 12 of therapy, 25% and 41.4% of patients showed a decrease of HBeAg levels with >0.5 log(10) and >1.0 log(10) from baseline, respectively. These patients achieved more Y1VR than those with less decrease of HBeAg levels (97.7%vs 22.2% and 86.2%vs 29.3%, respectively). HBeAg level at week 12 had higher predictive values for Y1VR than HBV DNA level. Multivariate analysis revealed that a pretreatment HBeAg level of <360 PEIU/mL and the reduction in HBeAg level >1.0 log(10) at week 12 were associated with Y1VR. These results suggest that pretreatment HBeAg level and an early decrease in HBeAg level are useful measurements for predicting one-year virologic response during entecavir treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006147:Guanine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D004279:DNA, Viral; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; C413685:entecavir; D006147:Guanine