• Shima Mimura, Koji Fujita, Kei Takuma, Mai Nakahara, Kyoko Oura, Tomoko Tadokoro, Hideki Kobara, Joji Tani, Asahiro Morishita, Takashi Himoto, and Tsutomu Masaki.
• Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Hospital, Ikenobe Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa, 761-0793, Japan. shima@med.kagawa-u.ac.jp.
• Intern Emerg Med. 2021 Sep 1; 16 (6): 1559-1565.

AbstractHepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public health problem worldwide. The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) alfa-2a treatment for seroclearance of HBs antigen (HBsAg) in HBe antigen (HBeAg)-negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. This retrospective study investigated 16 HBeAg-negative CHB patients who received Peg-IFN alfa-2a weekly for 48 weeks. Thereafter, the patients were followed-up for 48 weeks after the end of therapy. The following criteria were also used for inclusion: HBV-DNA < 5.0 log copies/mL and without nucleot(s)ide analogs. Four HBsAg-positive cases became HBsAg negative. The HBsAg levels of the 4 patients who achieved HBsAg seroclearance were lower significantly than that of the non-seroclearance group (p = 0.007). The mean HBsAg levels in these 4 cases were 68 IU/mL, while the mean HBsAg levels in the non-seroclearance group were 2,114 IU/mL. The mean HBV-DNA levels in the 4 HBsAg seroclearance cases were 2.8 log copies/mL as compared to 3.6 log copies/mL in HBsAg-non-seroclearance cases (p = 0.01). Cases that are HBeAg negative, with HBV-DNA levels < 5 log copies/mL, and HBsAg titers < 120 IU/mL cases may achieve HBsAg clearance with Peg-IFN therapy.© 2021. Società Italiana di Medicina Interna (SIMI).

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