Hepatol Res. 2018 Jan 4. doi: 10.1111/hepr.13049. [Epub ahead of print]
Higher efficacy of Pegylated interferon-alpha 2b add-on therapy in HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B patients on tenofovir monotherapy.Jindal A1, Vyas AK2, Kumar D3, Kumar G3, Sharma MK1, Sarin SK1.
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1Department of Hepatology, Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India.2Departments of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India.3Department of Clinical Research, Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India.
AbstractBACKGROUND: Monotherapy with Peg-IFNα or nucleos(t)ide analogues(NA) currently approved for treating chronic hepatitis B(CHB) have limited efficacy. Studies on combination of Peg-IFN-α/NA have shown conflicting results. We investigated whether sequential adding-on Peg-IFNα to tenofovir enhances serological response rates.
METHODS: Treatment naïve, HBeAg-positive CHB patients with moderately elevated ALT(48 to 200IU/mL) were started on tenofovir(300 mg/day) and enrolled at week 12 in 1:1 ratio to either receive Peg-IFNα2b add-on(1.5mcg/kg/week) from week 12 to 36(n=53) or continue tenofovir-monotherapy(n=53). Both arms received tenofovir consolidation therapy until week 72. Primary end-point was HBeAg loss at week-72.
RESULTS: At week-72, rate of HBeAg loss was higher in Peg-IFNα2b add-on(35.8%) compared to tenofovir monotherapy (17%)(p=0.028; OR:2.73, 95%CI:1.09 to 6.79),considerably higher in patients with baseline HBV DNA level >6Log IU/ml(32.6% vs. 11.4%;p=0.021). Rates of HBV DNA loss(77.4% vs. 71.7%;p=0.51),ALT normalization (62.3% vs. 52.8%;p=0.32) and sustained virological response(20.8% vs. 11.3%;p=0.18) at week 72 were comparable in two groups. Significantly more patients in add-on group had >3Log HBV DNA reduction at week 36(92.5% vs. 66%,p=0.001). Four patients on Peg-IFNα2b add-on achieved HBsAg loss compared with one in tenofovir monotherapy. More than 2 log HBV DNA decline at week 4 lead to higher HBeAg loss at week 72 independent of treatment arms. No patient had treatment related adverse effects requiring treatment discontinuation.
CONCLUSIONS: 24 weeks of Peg-IFNα2b as add-on sequential regimen to tenofovir is safe and resulted in more HBeAg and HBsAg loss compared to tenofovir monotherapy in selected HBeAg positive patients. Viral load reduction followed by immune modulation is a potentially useful approach.
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KEYWORDS: HBV; Hepatitis viral; Therapy; and chronic HBV; tenefovir
PMID:29314573DOI:10.1111/hepr.13049
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