title: Chronic hepatitis B: Advances in treatment.
abstract: Treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) has markedly improved in the last 15 years due to the availability of direct antivirals which greatly increase therapeutic options. Currently, there are two classes of agents licensed for CHB treatment: standard or pegylated interferon alpha (IFN or Peg-IFN) and five nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (NAs). Long-term treatment with NAs is the treatment option most often used in the majority of CHB patients. Entecavir and tenofovir, the most potent NAs with high barrier to resistance, are recommended as first-line monotherapy by all major treatment guidelines and can lead to long-lasting virological suppression, resulting in histological improvement or reversal of advanced fibrosis and reduction in disease progression and liver-related complications. In this review, we focus on current treatment strategies of chronic hepatitis B and discuss the most recent efficacy and safety data from clinical trials and real life clinical practice. Recent findings of response-guided approaches are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Teresa Antonia Santantonio, Massimo Fasano, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71100 Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Teresa Antonia
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Santantonio
authors.affiliation: Teresa Antonia Santantonio, Massimo Fasano, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71100 Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fasano
keywords: Antiviral resistance; Antiviral therapy; Chronic hepatitis; Nucleos(t)ide analogues; Peg-interferon