48 weeks outcome after cessation of nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy in chronic hepatitis B patients

Abstract

Introduction and objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the significance of serum HBsAg levels in treatment cessation of nucleoside analogues (NAs) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection. Methods: In 158 CHB patients with long-term NAs treatment, 74 patients were in HBeAg negative and had a HBsAg level 1000 IU/mL relapsed. HBsAg of patients with a sustained response decreased slowly. In contrast, HBsAg levels increased gradually in relapsed patients, and the increase of HBsAg was precedent to relapses of HBV DNA and ALT. Multivariate analysis suggested that only HBsAg level showed a close correlation with HBV DNA relapses. ROC curve analysis suggested that the increase of HBsAg level in the 3rd and 6th month after NAs cessation had a great predictive value for relapses. Conclusion: Monitoring of base line HBsAg level can predict outcomes of NAs cessation in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B. HBsAg <50 IU/mL has higher predictive values of better sustained responses in HBeAg-negative CHB patients.

Keywords

• Chronic hepatitis B
• Hepatitis B virus
• HBsAg quantitation
• Sustained response
• Nucleoside analogues
• Drug cessation