Nucleoside andnucleotide analogsNucleoside and nucleotide analogs inhibit HBV replication by competing with the natural substrate deoxyadenosinetriphosphate (dATP) and causing terminating of the HBV DNA chain prolongation.They represent two different subclasses of re-verse transcriptase inhibitors:while both are based on purines or pyrimidines, acyclic nucleotide analogs have an open (acyclic) ribose ring that confers greater binding capacity to resistant HBV polymerase strains.
Treatment duration for nucleos(t)ide analogs is not well-defined but a short-term application of these agents for 48 weeks is associated with prompt relapse in viremia and they should be administered for longer periods.Treatment efficacy of nucleoside and nucleotide analogs implies complete suppression of HBV DNA levels in serum. This should be achieved within six months if agents with high risk for resistance development as LAM, ADV, and LdT are used.
Effective long-term control of HBV replication with nucleoside or nucleotide analogs is associated with a reduction of long-term complications such as HCC and development of liver cirrhosis (Toy 2009). Studies with different nucleoside and nucleotide analogs have demonstrated that suppression of HBV replication is associated with a significant decrease in histologic inflammatory activity and fibrosis, including partial reversion of liver cirrhosis (Chen 2006, Iloeje 2006, Mom-meja-Marin 2003, Chen 2010,Marcellin 2011, Schiff 2011). With increasing treatment duration HBeAg seroconversion rates increase (Liaw 2000, Lok 2000). Most importantly, there is also evidence that effective inhibition of HBV replication can reduce HBV cccDNA, possibly running parallel to the decline in serum HBsAg levels(Werle-Lapostolle 2004, Wursthorn 2006). These findings may indicate that long-term antiviral therapy may lead to a complete response in a significant number of patients.
A central aspect of HBV polymerase inhibitor treatment is the prevention and management of HBV resistance to these drugs (see Chapter10). Resistance against nucleoside or nucleotide analogs can occur during suboptimal treatment and often leads to aggravation of liver disease. Because of cross resistance between several nucleoside and nucleotide analogs,nucleoside-naïve and nucleoside-experienced patients have to be distinguished and prior nucleoside experience should be taken into account when choosing a second line therapy. However, highly potent sub-stances such as ETV and TDF show minimal or even no resistance development in treatment-naïve patients over5-6 years (Snow-Lampert 2011).
Lamivudine (LAM). LAM, a (-) enantiomer of 2'-3' dideoxy-3'-thiacytidine, is a nucleoside analog that was approved for the treatment of chronic HBV infection in 1988 with a daily dose of 100 mg. This dose was chosen based on a preliminary trial that randomly assigned 32 patients to receive 25, 100, or 300 mg of LAM daily for a total of 12 weeks (Dienstag1995). In this study the dose of 100 mg was more effective than 25 mg and was similar to 300 mg in reducing HBV DNA levels. LAM exerts its therapeutic action in its phosphorylated form. By inhibiting both the RNA- and DNA-dependent DNA polymerase activities, the synthesis of both the first strand and the second strand of HBV DNA are interrupted.
Long-term LAM treatment is associated with an increasing rate of antiviral drug resistance reaching approximately 70% after 5 years inpatients with HBeAg-positive HBV infections. Therefore, in many guidelines LAM is not considered a first-line agent in the treatment of chronic HBV infection any more. However, LAM still may play a role in combination regimens or inpatients with mild chronic hepatitis B expressing low levels of HBV DNA (<105 copies/ml). An early and complete virologic response to LAM within 6 months of therapy(<400 copies/mL) constitutes a prerequisite for long-term control of HBV infection without the risk of developing resistance.
Adefovir dipivoxil (ADV). Adefovir dipivoxilwas approved for treatment of chronic hepatitis B in the US in 2002 and in Europe in 2003. It is an oral diester prodrug of adefovir, an acyclicnucleotide adenosine analog that is active in its diphosphate form. Because the acyclic nucleotide already contains a phosphate-mimetic group, it needs only two, instead of three, phosphorylation steps to reach the active metabolite stage. ADV was the first substance with simultaneous activity against wild type,pre-core, and LAM-resistant HBV variants. It is active in vitro against a number of DNA viruses other than HBV and retroviruses (i.e., HIV). The dose of 10 mg per day was derived from a study comparing 10 mg versus 30 mg/d. The higher dosage leads to stronger suppression of HBV DNA levels but also to renal toxicity with an increase of creatinine levels (Hadziyannis 2003).
ADV was the first acyclic nucleotide that was widely used in the treatment of LAM-resistant HBV infections. However, the antiviral effect of ADV in the licensed dosage of 10 mg/day is rather low as compared to other available antivirals (Figure 4); this disadvantage makes ADV vulnerable to HBV resistance (Hadziyannis 2006a). Now that TDF is approved, ADV should not be used as first-line monotherapy.
Telbivudine (LdT). Telbivudine is a thymidine analog which is active against HBV but at least in vitro not active against other viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). LdT at 600mg/day expresses higher antiviral activity compared to either LAM at 100 mg/day or ADV at 10 mg/day (Figure 4). More patients achieved HBeAg loss within 48weeks as compared to other nucleos(t)ides.
LdT was reported to be non-mutagenic, non-carcinogenic,non-teratogenic, and to cause no mitochondrial toxicity. A favourable safety profile at a daily dose of 600 mg was demonstrated (Hou 2008, Lai 2007).However, CK elevations were observed more often as compared to the group treated with LAM and neurotoxicity may be an issue when LdT is administered in combination with PEG-INF α (Fleischer 2009). Thus,in the GLOBE trial, during a period of 104 weeks grades 3/4 elevations in CK levels were observed in 88 of 680 (12.9%) patients who received LdT and in 28of 687 (4.1%) patients who received LAM (p<0.001) (Liaw 2009). However,rhabdomyolysis was not observed. Peripheral neuropathy was described in 9 of 48(18.75%) patients who received combination therapy of PEG-INF αnd LdT and only in 10 of 3500 (0.28%) patients who received LdT monotherapy(Goncalves 2009).
Resistance to LdT has been found to occur in up to 21% after 2 years of treatment (Tenney 2009), predominantly in patients who did not achieve undetectable HBV DNA level after 24 weeks of treatment (Zeuzem 2009).LdT shows cross-resistance to LAM and ETV. As a consequence LdT should not be used in LAM or ETV refractory patients.
Entecavir (ETV). Entecavir, a cyclopentylguanosine nucleoside analog, is a selective inhibitor of HBV replication and was licensed in 2006. Entecavir blocks all three polymerase steps involved in the replication process of the hepatitis B virus: first, base priming; second,reverse transcription of the negative strand from the pregenomic messenger RNA;third, synthesis of the positive strand of HBV DNA. In comparison to all othernucleoside and nucleotide analogs, ETV is more efficiently phosphorylated to its active triphosphate compound by cellular kinases. It is a potent inhibitor of wild-type HBV but is less effective against LAM-resistant HBV mutants.Therefore, ETV was approved at a dose of 0.5 mg per day for treating naïve HBeAg-positive and -negative patients at the dose of 1 mg per day for patients with prior treatment with LAM (Lai 2005, Sherman 2008). ETV and LAM are the only nucleoside analogs available as a tablet and an oral solution.
Treatment-naïve HBeAg-positive patients achieved undetectable HBV DNA levels in 67% and 74% after one and two years of ETV treatment,reaching 94% after five years, respectively (Figure 4, Figure 7) (Chang 2010).Long-term studies in ETV responder patients demonstrated that response can be maintained in nearly all patients over an observation period of up to six years. So far, the rate of resistance at six years of treatment is estimated to be approximately 1.2% for treatment-naïve patients (Tenney 2009). Loss of HBsAg occurs in 5% of treatment-naïve individuals after two years of ETV therapy(Gish 2010). A non-randomised Italian study in a mixed population of predominantly HBeAg-negative patients could demonstrate undetectable HBV DNAlevels in 91% and 97% of patients at 1 and 2 years of ETV treatment,respectively (Lampertico 2010).
In LAM-resistant patients ETV is less potent. Only 19% and40% of these patients achieved undetectable HBV DNA after one and two years,respectively, despite an increased dose of 1 mg/day (Gish 2007, Sherman 2008).Due to cross-resistance up to 45% of patients with LAM resistance develop resistance against ETV after 5 years of treatment (Tenney 2009).
ETV has a favourable tolerability profile and can be easily adjusted to renal function. However, ETV may cause severe lactic acidosis inpatients with impaired liver function and a MELD score of >20 points (Lange2009).
Figure 7. Percentage of patients achieving HBV DNA levels<400 copies/ml during long-term treatment with 1 mg ETV per day (Chang2010). The long-term cohort ETV-901 consists of HBeAg-positive patients initially treated in the study ETV-022 (ETV 0.5mg/day), which was designed for a duration of one year.
Tenofovir (TDF). Tenofovir disoproxilfumarate, an ester prodrug form of tenofovir (PMPA;(R)-9-(2-phosphonylmethoxypropyl)), is an acyclic nucleoside phosphonate, ornucleotide analog closely related to ADV. TDF has selective activity against retroviruses and hepadna viruses and is currently approved for the treatment of HIV infection and of chronic hepatitis B. TDF showed marked antiviral efficacy over five years with complete virologic response rates (HBV DNA <400copies/ml) reaching nearly 100% in treatment-naïve HBeAg-negative and -positive patients (Figure 8). In HBeAg-positive patients, 11% of patients experienced HBsAg loss (Marcellin 2011). Other clinical studies showing a high efficacy of TDF in LAM-resistant HBV infections irrespective of the mutation mediating LAM resistance (van Bömmel 2010, Levrero 2010). Due to possibly existing cross-resistance to ADV, the efficacy of TDF might be hampered by the presence of ADV resistance in patients with high HBV viremia; however, a breakthrough of HBV DNA during TDF treatment in patients with previous ADV failure or intreatment-naïve patients has not been observed (van Bömmel 2010, Levrero 2010,Snow-Lampert 2011).
Figure 8. Percentage of patients achieving HBV DNA levels<400 copies/mL during long-term treatment with 300 mg TDF per day (Marcellin2010). Patients were originally randomised to treatment with 300 mg TDF or 10 mg ADV per day. After one year, patients receivingADV were switched to TDF. Please note that the on-treatment analysis excluding the missing patients showed undetectable HBV DNA in 96% of the TDF-TDF group and in 100% of the ADV-TDF group.
TDF is generally well-tolerated and not associated with severe side effects. For HBV-monoinfected, treatment-naïve patients, renal safety during TDF monotherapy was investigated in three studies. In a randomized study comprising HBeAg-negative patients, none of 212 patients treated with TDF for three years and none of 112 patients who were treated with ADV for one year and then switched to TDF for two years had a decrease in GFR to levels of <50 ml/min or an increase of serum creatinine levels to >0.5mg/dl (Marcellin 2009). In a similar study in HBeAg-positive patients, of 130patients treated with TDF for 3 years and of 76 patients treated with ADV for one year and consecutively with TDF for 2 years, only one patients showed an increase in serum creatinine levels >0.5 mg/dl starting at year two(Heathcote 2011). In a sub-analysis of both studies in 152 HBeAg-positive and-negative Asian patients, no increase of serum creatinine >0.5 mg/dl or of eGFR <50 ml/min was found in up to 3 years of TDF treatment (Liaw 2009a). In contrast, in a recent study a benefit in renal function could be found in treated patients when compared to untreated patients with HBV infection, which might reflect a lower incidence of glomerulonephritis caused by HBsAg-induced immune complexes in treated patients (Mauss 2011).
The use of tenofovir in HIV-coinfected patients is discussed in detail in Chapter 17.
Combinationtherapy as first-line treatment.
As of now, first-line combination treatments with nucleoside and nucleotide analogs or PEG-IFN α +nucleos(t)ide analogs are not indicated. There is only one study comparing a combination therapy with LAM and ADV to LAM monotherapy in untreated patients(Sung 2008). In this study, there was no difference in the virologic and biochemical response between both groups. The rate of LAM resistance was much lower in the combination group. However, the development of resistance couldnot be completely avoided even with the use of an additional dose of ADV.Another study analyzing the combination of LAM with LdT also showed no benefit for combination therapy (Lai 2005). Especially in patients with liver cirrhosis, a fast and complete suppression of HBV replication is desirable. A monotherapy with ETV was found to be as safe and effective as monotherapy with TDF, and an addition of emtricitabine to TDF showed no improvement in response. Therefore, in these patients as well, combination treatment is currently not recommended (Liaw2011).
Combination treatment with LdT and PEG-INF αshould not happen. In a recent study, peripheral neuropathy was described in 9of 48 (18.8%) patients who received combination therapy of PEG-INF α and LdT and only in 10 of 3,500 (0.28%) patients who received LdT monotherapy (Goncalves 2009). Although combination of LAM plusPEG-IFN α failed to demonstrate benefit when evaluated at the end of follow-up in most studies, a more pronounced on-treatment virologic response (week 48) was observed with combination therapy as compared to LAM or PEG-IFN α alone. This more profound HBV DNA suppression induced by the combination regimen was associated with a lower incidence of LAM resistance (presence of resistance mutations in1% vs. 18% at the end of therapy).
However, combination therapies between PEG-IFN α and more potent nucleos(t)ide analogs may be attractive.Recently, a combination treatment of ETV and PEG-IFN αafter 4 years of complete response to ETV was superior to continuation of ETVtreatment by HBeAg and HBsAg loss and seroconversion rates (Ning 2011). Similarstudies are currently being undertaken investigating combination treatment ofPEG-IFN α and TDF. However due to the preliminarycharacter of the results a combination treatment of nucleos(t)ide analogs plusPEG-INF α is still not recommended.