Introduction and objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the significance of serum HBsAg levels in treatment cessation of nucleoside analogues (NAs) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection.
Methods: In 158 CHB patients with long-term NAs treatment, 74 patients were in HBeAg negative and had a HBsAg level <1500IU/mL, 36 of whom were informed and consented to cease NAs. HBsAg, HBV DNA and liver function were examined in the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th month after treatment cessation.
Results: The sustained response rate was 88.89% (32/36) within one year after NAs cessation. Sub-group analysis was based on HBsAg levels of patients with NAs cessation, there was no relapse case in 11 patients whose HBsAg <50IU/mL, and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 100%. Seroconversion of HBsAg occurred in 3 patients. 2 patients from 21 cases whose HBsAg was between 50IU/mL and 1000IU/mL relapsed. 2 of 4 patients whose in HBsAg >1000IU/mL relapsed. HBsAg of patients with a sustained response decreased slowly. In contrast, HBsAg levels increased gradually in relapsed patients, and the increase of HBsAg was precedent to relapses of HBV DNA and ALT. Multivariate analysis suggested that only HBsAg level showed a close correlation with HBV DNA relapses. ROC curve analysis suggested that the increase of HBsAg level in the 3rd and 6th month after NAs cessation had a great predictive value for relapses.
Conclusion: Monitoring of base line HBsAg level can predict outcomes of NAs cessation in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B. HBsAg <50IU/mL has higher predictive values of better sustained responses in HBeAg-negative CHB patients.
【저자키워드】 Hepatitis B virus, Nucleoside analogues, Chronic Hepatitis B, drug cessation, Sustained Response., HBsAg quantitation,