Hope-For-HepB Top10 October 2009

Impact of hepatitis B vaccination in children born to HBsAg-positive mothers: a 20-year retrospective study.

Bracciale L, Fabbiani M, Sansoni A, Luzzi L, Bernini L, Zanelli G.

Infection. 2009 Aug;37(4):340-3.

Rating & Commentary
* Important retrospective study confirming the high protection of hepatitis B vaccine given to neonates of HBsAg-positive mothers, for 20 years. The study also documents that only 12% of HBsAg-positive mothers were followed for their chronic hepatitis B infection.

Cost-effectiveness of nationwide hepatitis B catch-up vaccination among children and adolescents in China.

Hutton DW, So SK, Brandeau ML.

Hepatology. 2009 Sep 9. [Epub ahead of print]

Rating & Commentary
* Cost-effectiveness study which demonstrates, using a Markov model, that hepatitis B catch-up vaccination for children and adolescents in a highly endemic country such as China, is cost-saving, even for adolescents aged 15 to 19 years old.

Early HBeAg loss during peginterferon alpha-2b therapy predicts HBsAg loss: results of a long-term follow-up study in chronic hepatitis B patients.

Buster EH, Flink HJ, Simsek H, Heathcote EJ, Sharmila S, Kitis GE, Gerken G, Buti M, de Vries RA, Verhey E, Hansen BE, Janssen HL.

Am J Gastroenterol. 2009 Oct;104(10):2449-57.

Rating & Commentary
* Subanalysis of the LTFU study of peginterferon for the treatment of HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B, demonstrating that patients with HBeAg loss at week 32 of peginterferon treatment developed HBsAg loss significantly more often than did those who lost HBeAg after week 32 (36 vs 4%).

The impact of type 2 diabetes on the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in different viral hepatitis statuses.

Wang CS, Yao WJ, Chang TT, Wang ST, Chou P.

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009 Jul;18(7):2054-60.

Rating & Commentary
* Large epidemiological prospective cohort study, which demonstrates that Type 2 diabetes is an independent predictor of hepatocellular carcinoma in anti-HCV(+) and seronegative individuals but not in HBsAg(+) individuals.

Hepatitis B Virus Load in Serum Does Not Reflect Histological Activity in Patients with Decompensated Cirrhosis.

Kim JD, Choi JY, Bae SH, Yoon SK, Yang JM, Han NI, Choi SW, Lee CD, Lee YS, Jung ES.

Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2009 Oct 2. [Epub ahead of print]

Rating & Commentary
* HBV DNA levels below 10.000 copies/ml are usually associated with inactive liver disease. This study documents that in patients with decompensated cirrhosis HBV DNA (nor ALT) is a reliable indicator of histological disease activity.

Risk of pancreatic cancer in chronic hepatitis B virus infection: data from the REVEAL-HBV cohort study.

Iloeje UH, Yang HI, Jen CL, Su J, Wang LY, You SL, Lu SN, Chen CJ.

Liver Int. 2009 Oct 16. [Epub ahead of print]

Rating & Commentary
* Large prospective cohort studie, which demonstrates that the incidence of pancreatic cancer is slight increased in chronic HBsAg-carriers.

Response to antiviral treatment in patients infected with hepatitis B virus genotypes E-H.

Erhardt A, Göbel T, Ludwig A, Lau GK, Marcellin P, van Bömmel F, Heinzel-Pleines U, Adams O, Häussinger D.

J Med Virol. 2009 Oct;81(10):1716-20.

Rating & Commentary
* Data on the efficacy of antiviral therapy in HBV genotypes E-H is scarce. This retrospective cohort study demonstrated that a sustained response was achieved in 35% of 23 patients treated with standard IFN.

Efficacy of entecavir in patients with chronic hepatitis B resistant to both lamivudine and adefovir or to lamivudine alone.

Shim JH, Suh DJ, Kim KM, Lim YS, Lee HC, Chung YH, Lee YS.

Hepatology. 2009 Oct;50(4):1064-71.

Rating & Commentary
* Cohort study which evaluated the efficacy of ETV in patients who were resistant to lamivudine (LAM)/ADV sequential therapy and in those resistant to LAM monotherapy. The 48-week ETV treatment was less effective in LAM/ADV-resistant than in LAM-resistant patients, which might indicate that the efficacy of ETV is also compromised by prior ADV therapy.

Two types of drug-resistant hepatitis B viral strains emerging alternately and their susceptibility to combination therapy with entecavir and adefovir.

Kurashige N, Ohkawa K, Hiramatsu N, Oze T, Yakushijin T, Mochizuki K, Hosui A, Miyagi T, Ishida H, Tatsumi T, Kanto T, Takehara T, Hayashi N.

Antivir Ther. 2009;14(6):873-7.

Rating & Commentary
** Report suggesting the clinical significance of combination therapy of entecavir and adefovir for drug resistant mutant HBV.

Telbivudine in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B: experience in HIV type-1-infected patients naive for antiretroviral therapy.

Milazzo L, Caramma I, Lai A, Violin M, De Maddalena C, Cesari M, Galli M, Balotta C.

Antivir Ther. 2009;14(6):869-72.

Rating & Commentary
* Clinical important study on three HIV-HBV co-infected patients demonstrating that telbivudine monotherapy has anti-HIV activity, and thus should not be used as single agent for the treatment of HIV-HBV co-infected subjects.