SNUH paves way for ‘fast-and-full recovery’ from Hepatitis B - 기자명 Kim Ji-u
- Published 2020.12.10 15:31
- Updated 2020.12.10 18:35
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Hepatitis B (HB), long been regarded as incurable completely despite the lifelong use of antiviral agents, can be overcome rapidly by getting vaccines after taking antiviral drugs and pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) injections, a recent study showed.
The Kim Yoon-jun-Lee Jeong-hoon team, both professors of the Department of Internal Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital, analyzed 111 chronic hepatitis B patients who got vaccine after peg-IFN injections.
 Professors Kim Yoon-jun (left) and Lee Jeong-hoon of the Department of Internal Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital have found a new treatment method for the fast and full recovery from hepatitis B. (SNUH)
They divided subjects into three 37-member groups -- group A who got vaccines after being treated with entecavir+peg-IFN, group B who got vaccines simultaneously with entecavir+peg-IFN, and group C who received only entecavir treatment.
The goal of treating HB is the “loss of serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg),” regarded as functional recovery.
<Comparison of HB treatments in three controlled groups>  Group A: Vaccination after entecavir+peg-IFN; six among 37 fully recovered after 100 weeksGroup B: Vaccinations simultaneously with entecavir+peg-IFN; two out of 37 fully recovered after 100 weeksGroup C: Entecavir treatment only. No patient was fully recovered was found.Source: SNUH
The team examined them after 100 weeks and found that group A showed a significantly higher loss of HBsAg. Six out of 37 saw their serum surface antigen disappear with a loss rate of 16.2 percent. One in six patients completely lost their virus, in other words. In group C who received only entecavir treatment, no one was cured. However, there were no differences in serious side effects.
Various previous studies had confirmed the loss-rate of HBsAg is higher when patients use interferon and oral drugs than oral-antiviral drugs alone.
However, it could not win recognition as a standard treatment due to side effects and low cost-effectiveness.
The recent study is significant, as it discovered for the first time the loss-rate HBsAg goes up if patients are inoculated with vaccines followed by oral antiviral drugs and peg-IFN, the research team said.
Besides, patients don’t have to take oral antiviral drugs for a lifetime, as the study showed a 16.2 percent recovery rate for the combination of three widely used treatments.
“It took more than decades to eliminate HBsAgs with oral antiviral drugs only. With the new treatment method, however, HB patients are more likely to reach full recovery within two years,” Professor Kim said.
Professor Lee, the first author of the paper, said, “We could produce the results with randomly assigned clinical research conducted by combining the existing treatments. Our accumulated results will pave the way for the full recovery of HB patients.”
While noting the need for additional study on a large scale, the team expects the new method will shorten the treatment time for chronic HB patients and improve their quality of life.
The study results have been published in the latest online issue of Clinical Infectious Disease.
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发表于 2020-12-11 10:46
