title: Durability of efficacy after telbivudine off-treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Current international guidelines indicate that finite therapy with nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) is possible in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Here we evaluate the durability of efficacy after telbivudine (LdT) off-treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  39 CHB patients with normalized ALT, undetectable HBV-DNA and HBeAg seroconversion for at least 48 weeks were observed after telbivudine discontinuation. We analyzed the follow-up clinical condition of off-treatment, calculated the cumulative clinical relapse rate, and explored the predictive factors for clinical relapse.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Totally 8 patients encountered clinical relapse in the first 60 weeks after telbivudine discontinuation. The cumulative clinical relapse rates at week 24, 48, 60 and 204 were respectively 2.6%, 7.7%, 16.3% and 23.3%. No significant difference was found between cumulative clinical relapse rates of HBeAg(+) and HBeAg(-). No significant baseline or on-treatment factors for clinical relapse were found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study demonstrated that most CHB patients maintained sustained response and HBeAg seroconversion following telbivudine off-treatment. Clinical relapses may often occur in the early period, with low clinical relapse rate. More follow-up data will be on-going and complemented in the further studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Da-biao
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: You-ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Dong-ying
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Cui-rong
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Zhan-lian
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Rui-hua
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: zhilianggao@21cn.com.
authors.forename: Zhi-liang
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000077712:Telbivudine; D013936:Thymidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077712:Telbivudine; D013936:Thymidine
keywords: CHB; Durability; Relapse; Telbivudine; Withdraw