Sequential treatment with lamivudine and interferon-{alpha} monotherapies in

liver411

J Antimicrob Chemother. 2006 Sep 19; [Epub ahead of print]


Sequential treatment with lamivudine and interferon-{alpha} monotherapies in
hepatitis B e antigen-negative Chinese patients and its suppression of
lamivudine-resistant mutations.

Shi M, Wang RS, Zhang H, Zhu YF, Han B, Zhang Y, Jin LJ, Yang ZJ, Xu YP.

Department of Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023,
Liaoning Province, China; No. 6 Hospital of Dalian, Dalian 116001, Liaoning
Province, China.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of sequential treatment with lamivudine
and interferon-alpha monotherapies in Chinese patients with hepatitis B e
antigen (HBeAg)-negative chronic hepatitis B. METHODS: One hundred and
sixty-two patients with HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B were included in
this study. Ninety-eight were treated with lamivudine alone (100 mg per day)
for 48 weeks (group B). Sixty-four were treated with lamivudine alone (100
mg per day) for 20 weeks, then combined with interferon-alpha-2b (5 million
units three times per week) for 4 weeks and then treated for another 24
weeks with interferon-alpha-2b alone (5 million units three times per week)
(group A). All patients were followed for an additional 24 weeks. RESULTS:
After 48 weeks of treatment, the percentage of patients with normalization
of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels or hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA
levels below 1000 copies/mL was not significantly different between the
lamivudine monotherapy group (55.10% and 55.10%, respectively) and the
sequential treatment group (59.36% and 56.25%, respectively). The percentage
of patients with normalized ALT levels was significantly higher in group A
(53%) than in group B (36%) at week 72 (P < 0.05). The percentage of
patients with lamivudine-resistant mutations was significantly higher with
lamivudine monotherapy (22.45%) than with sequential therapy (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Sequential treatment of chronic hepatitis B with lamivudine and
interferon-alpha monotherapies is as effective as lamivudine-alone treatment
in Chinese patients. However, sequential treatment can significantly
suppress the emergence of lamivudine-resistant mutations.

PMID: 16987866 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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