Orito E, Fujiwara K, Kanie H, Ban T, Yamada T, Hayashi K. Quantitation of HBsAg predicts response to entecavir therapy in HBV genotype C patients.
World J Gastroenterol 2012;
18:5570-5. [PMID:
23112549 PMCID:
PMC3482643 DOI:
10.3748/wjg.v18.i39.5570]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2012] [Revised: 03/28/2012] [Accepted: 04/09/2012] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
AIM: To analysis the factors that predict the response to entecavir therapy in chronic hepatitis patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C.
METHODS: Fifty patients [hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative:HBeAg-positive = 26:24] with HBV genotype C, who received naïve entecavir therapy for > 2 years, were analyzed. Patients who showed HBV DNA levels ≥ 3.0 log viral copies/mL after 2 years of entecavir therapy were designated as slow-responders, while those that showed < 3.0 log copies/mL were termed rapid-responders. Quantitative hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels (qHBsAg) were determined by the Architect HBsAg QT immunoassay. Hepatitis B core-related antigen was detected by enzyme immunoassay. Pre-C and Core promoter mutations were determined using by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Drug-resistance mutations were detected by the PCR-Invader method.
RESULTS: At year 2, HBV DNA levels in all patients in the HBeAg-negative group were < 3.0 log copies/mL. In contrast, in the HBeAg-positive group, 41.7% were slow-responders, while 58.3% were rapid-responders. No entecavir-resistant mutants were detected in the slow-responders. When the pretreatment factors were compared between the slow- and rapid-responders; the median qHBsAg in the slow-responders was 4.57 log IU/mL, compared with 3.63 log IU/mL in the rapid-responders (P < 0.01). When the pretreatment factors predictive of HBV DNA-negative status at year 2 in all 50 patients were analyzed, HBeAg-negative status, low HBV DNA levels, and low qHBsAg levels were significant (P < 0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed that the low qHBsAg level was the most significant predictive factor (P = 0.03).
CONCLUSION: Quantitation of HBsAg could be a useful indicator to predict response to entecavir therapy.
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