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Stopping Therapy in HBeAg Negative Disease

  • Hepatitis B: Therapeutics (P Martin and WG Cooksley, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Chronic hepatitis B infection confers a major risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide. The ultimate long-term goal of chronic hepatitis B therapy is to reduce morbidity and mortality related to liver disease progression. The ideal treatment endpoint is HBsAg seroconversion. As HBsAg clearance is rarely achieved, the short-term goal of therapy is maintained suppression of hepatitis B replication. For HBeAg-positive patients, durable HBeAg seroconversion with undetectable HBVDNA is a satisfactory intermediate end-point. For HBeAg-negative patients, the treatment endpoint remains unclear, hence, sustained suppression of HBV DNA level to low or undetectable levels is the optimal treatment response. Several studies in HBeAg-negative population have proposed that discontinuation of antiviral treatment can be considered if undetectable serum HBV DNA is demonstrated on three separate occasions at least 6 months apart. Preliminary data suggests that on-treatment HBsAg quantification may play a role as a predictor of sustained response off-therapy.

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Abbreviations

(CHB):

chronic hepatitis B

(HBeAg):

hepatitis B e antigen

(HCC):

hepatocellular carcinoma

(ccc DNA):

covalently closed circular DNA

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Conflict of Interest

Weng Kai Chan declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Soek-Siam Tan declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Rosmawati Mohamed declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, Jalan Pahang, 50586, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Weng Kai Chan

  2. Department of Hepatology, Selayang Hospital, Lebuhraya Selayang-Kepong, 68100, Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia

    Soek-Siam Tan

  3. Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Rosmawati Mohamed

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  1. Weng Kai Chan
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  2. Soek-Siam Tan
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  3. Rosmawati Mohamed
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Correspondence to Rosmawati Mohamed.

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Chan, W.K., Tan, SS. & Mohamed, R. Stopping Therapy in HBeAg Negative Disease. Curr Hepatitis Rep 12, 105–111 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11901-013-0167-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11901-013-0167-5

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