ABSTRACT
Objective:
Hepatitis B is a common infectious disease. In this study, factors affecting pegylated Interferon (pegIFN) therapy response in HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were investigated.
Materials and Methods:
A total of 20 HBeAg(-) CHB patients who received pegIFN were enrolled in this study. The patients’ information was obtained retrospectively. Patients co-infected with Hepatitis C, HIV and Hepatitis D were excluded. HBV-DNA levels less than 300 IU at the end of therapy was considered as virologic response (VR), and as sustained virologic response (SVR) at six months after completion of treatment.
Results:
While nine (45%) of 20 patient achieved VR, SVR was seen in seven (35%) cases. All of the patients who have SVR, and 9/13 of patients who do not have VR, had less than 2000 IU HBV-DNA in the sixth month of treatment (p=0.58). Also, two of 13 patient who do not have VR, had HBV-DNA <300 IU/ml in the twelfth month of treatment (p=0.01). Responder patients’ HBVDNA level was found significantly low after the third months of the treatment. Gender, age, histological activity index, fibrosis, and basal HBV-DNA, ALT, AST and GGT levels did not affect the success of interferon treatment (p>0.05).
Conclusion:
As a result, HBV-DNA levels below 2000 IU at sixth month of the treatment did not exactly indicate the treatment success. But, patients who have HBV-DNA < 300 IU in the twelfth month of treatment, have increased chance of SVR.