The baseline characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis B and achieved HBsAg loss during treatment of interferon

Objective To investigate the clinical baseline characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis B who received interferon therapy and achieved HBsAg loss on-treatment of interferon. Methods Demographic, viral, and serological baseline factors, Including age, sex, DNA HBV levels, HBsAg/anti HBs levels, HBeAg/anti HBe levels, in patients achieved HBsAg loss on-treatment from a prospective observational cohort of chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon and their time of HBsAg loss during treatment were collected. Quantitative data was expressed as mean±standard deviation, difference between groups was tested by ttest or variance analysis, and the relationship was analyzed by linear regression analysis. Qualitative data wasStatistical performed by frequency or percent. Results A total of 329 patients achieved HBsAg loss during interferon treatment, including 201 naive patients and 128 undergoing nucleoside analogue(NA) therapy patients. Average age of these patients was 32 years old, the ALT levels were 261.28±435.20U/L.TheHBV DNA levels of HBV DNA positive patients were 5.16±1.83 log10 IU/ml, and the ALT levels of patients with HBV DNA>106 IU/ml were 337.00±414.87 U/l. 48.08%(25/52) of patients with HBV DNA>107 IU/ml were treated by IFN added NA. Baseline HBsAg were 2.92±1.15 log10 IU/ml, and 50.8% of patients were HBsAg<1 500 IU/ml. the time of HBsAg loss occurred at treatment of 90.2±63.0 weeks, 69.9% of them occurred at treatment course above 48 weeks. The time of HBsAg loss occurred during interferon treatment was correlated with baseline levels of HBsAg, HBeAg and ALT independently. Conclusions Patients with Chronic hepatitis B and achieved HBsAg loss during interferon treatment have characteristics of young, high ALT and low HBsAg levels. Patients with higher HBV DNA load and ALT levels should receive interferon combined with NA therapy for achieving HBsAg loss. Key words: Hepatitis B, chronic; Antiviral therapy; Hepatitis B virus; Polyethylene glycols