Effect of Pegylated Interferon Add-On Therapy to Achieve Disease Remission in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B
Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Despite effective vaccination, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) poses a substantial hazard to public health with limited options for finite treatment. A pooled analysis was performed to investigate whether 24-48 weeks of peg-interferon (PEG-IFN) addition could increase response 48 weeks after end-of-therapy compared to continued nucleos(t)ide analogue (NUC)-monotherapy in 234 patients from two investigator-initiated trials. PEG-IFN addition hypothetically increases off-treatment response, particularly after prolonged NUC pre-treatment due to partial immune restoration. Response was observed in 38/118 (33%) patients assigned PEG-IFN addition and 23/116 (20%) assigned NUC-monotherapy (p=0.03). The duration of NUC-monotherapy was associated with HBsAg and HBV DNA, but not directly with response. Re-treating initial non-responders with PEG-IFN add-on did not improve response. PEG-IFN naïve patients with low HBsAg and HBV-DNA levels at randomization achieved the highest response to addition therapy compared with NUC-monotherapy (70% vs. 34%; p=0.01), identifying these as the best candidates for PEG-IFN add-on therapy in clinical practice.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Liem, Kin Seng
Institution: University of Toronto
Language: English
Topic: Hepatitis B Virus Studies
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2942380731