Efficacy of sequential add-on pegylated interferon α-2a in combination with adefovir dipivoxil in chronic hepatitis B patients with low serum HBeAg titer / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the efficacy of sequential add-on of pegylated interferon α-2a (PEGIFN-α-2a) for 48 weeks in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with low serum hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) titer after long term adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) monotherapy.Methods This was a randomized,open and prospective clinical trial.Patients who had been treated with ADV for 72 to 144 weeks,with undetectable serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level,low HBeAg titer (5 S/CO＜ HBeAg＜50 S/CO) and serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) ＜5000 IU/mL were included.The patients were categorized into ADV monotherapy group and ADV plus PEGIFN-a-2a combination therapy group by random number table.Patients in ADV group continued ADV monotherapy and patients in combination therapy group added PEGIFN-α-2a to ADV for 48 weeks.After the treatment,efficacy of the two therapies were assessed by comparing the reduction of serum HBeAg reduction,HBeAg loss rate,HBeAg seroconversion rate,and reduction of intrahepatic HBV DNA and HBV covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA).Pre-and post-treatment results were compared by paired samples t test.Comparison between groups was performed using indepedent samples t test.Comparison of rates between groups was performed using x2 test.Results The trial enrolled 55 CHB patients,and there were 27 patients in ADV monotherapy group,28 patients in combination therapy group.Baseline characteristics including age distribution,sex ratio,alanine aminotransferase (ALT),aspartate aminotransferase (AST),total bilirubin (TBil),serum HBeAg and HBsAg,hepatic HBV DNA and HBV cccDNA were all comparable (all P＞0.05).Twenty-five patients in ADV monotherapy group and 26 patients in combination therapy group completed 48 weeks treatment.HBeAg loss rates and seroconversion rates of combination therapy group were higher than those of ADV monotherapy group (x2 =5.38 and 4.69,respectively,both P＜0.05).HBeAg titers of both groups were significantly lower than those of baseline (t=8.43 and 8.50,respectively,both P＜0.05).The HBeAg titer of combination therapy group was lower than that of monotherapy group (t=5.60,P＜ 0.01).HBV DNA and HBV cccDNA in liver tissue of combination therapy group was (6.934±0.52) lg IU/mg and (5.63±0.54) lg IU/mg post-treatment,respectively,which were both lower than baseline (t＝7.12.6.67,respectively,both P＜0.01).HBV DNA in liver tissue of monotherapy group was (7.09＝0.43) lg IU/mg post-treatment,which was lower than baseline (t=2.67,P=0.02).After treatment,HBV cccDNA in liver tissue of combination therapy group was lower than that of monotherapy group (t =2.87,P=0.00).Conclusions Compared with ADV monotherapy,sequential add-on of PEGIFN-a-2a in combination with ADV can achieve higher serum HBeAg loss rate and seroconversion rate and facilitate the clearance of hepatic HBV DNA and HBV cccDNA in CHB patients with low HBeAg titer after long-term ADV monotherapy.