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Efficacy and resistance to telbivudine treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients with favorable predictors: a multicenter study in Taiwan

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Abstract

Background/purpose

A subgroup analysis of a GLOBE study identified subgroups of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with excellent outcomes to telbivudine (LdT) treatment. The aim of this study was to validate this concept using a real-world clinical population.

Methods

This prospective, retrospective, and multicenter study examined both HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative CHB patients treated with LdT for 2 years.

Results

A total of 116 CHB patients were recruited. Of the 64 HBeAg-positive patients, 35 had favorable baseline characteristics [hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA ≤ 9 log10 copies/mL and alanine aminotransferase ≥ 2× the upper limit of normal (ULN)], but only 40 % (14/35) achieved polymerase chain reaction (PCR) negativity at week 24. Among the 14 patients with favorable baseline characteristics and on-treatment response, the rates of virologic, biochemical, and serologic response and genotypic resistance were 78.6 % (11/14), 64.3 % (9/14), 50 % (7/14), and 7.1 % (1/14), respectively, at week 104 of therapy. Of the 52 HBeAg-negative patients, 34 met the criteria of a baseline serum HBV-DNA level less than 7 log10 copies/mL, and 29 (85.3 %) achieved PCR negativity at week 24. Among the 29 patients with favorable baseline characteristics and on-treatment response, the rates of virologic and biochemical response and genotypic resistance were 96.6 % (28/29), 72.4 % (21/29), and 6.9 % (2/29), respectively. In addition, the PCR negativity at week 24 was the only factor associated with the virologic response and genotypic resistance to LdT treatment.

Conclusion

The efficacy and resistance to LdT treatment in CHB patients with favorable predictors were comparable between a real-world clinical population and the GLOBE study. In addition, PCR negativity at week 24 could predict virologic response and genotypic resistance to LdT treatment.

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Acknowledgements

Novartis provided support for the statistical analyses.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation.

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Correspondence to Jia-Horng Kao.

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Conflict and interest

Chia-Chi Wang, Chih-Lin Lin, Tsai-Yuan Hsieh, Kuo-Chih Tseng, Cheng-Yuan Peng, Tung-Hung Su, Sheng-Shun Yang, Yu-Chun Hsu, Tsung-Ming Chen and Jia-Horng Kao declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human and animal rights

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Taiwan) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for inclusion in the study. This article does not contain any studies with animal subjects.

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Wang, CC., Lin, CL., Hsieh, TY. et al. Efficacy and resistance to telbivudine treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients with favorable predictors: a multicenter study in Taiwan. Hepatol Int 10, 294–301 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12072-015-9662-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12072-015-9662-9

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