Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. May 28, 2016; 8(15): 637-643
Published online May 28, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i15.637
Hepatitis B surface antigen clearance in inactive hepatitis B surface antigen carriers treated with peginterferon alfa-2a
Ming-Hui Li, Yao Xie, Lu Zhang, Yao Lu, Ge Shen, Shu-Ling Wu, Min Chang, Cai-Qin Mu, Lei-Ping Hu, Wen-Hao Hua, Shu-Jing Song, Shu-Feng Zhang, Jun Cheng, Dao-Zhen Xu
Ming-Hui Li, Yao Xie, Lu Zhang, Yao Lu, Ge Shen, Shu-Ling Wu, Min Chang, Cai-Qin Mu, Lei-Ping Hu, Jun Cheng, Dao-Zhen Xu, Liver Disease Center, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100015, China
Wen-Hao Hua, Shu-Jing Song, Shu-Feng Zhang, Clinical Test Center, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing100015, China
Author contributions: Li MH and Xie Y conceived the study, participated in the study design, and drafted the manuscript; Zhang L, Lu Y, Shen G, Wu SL, Chang M, Mu CQ and Hu LP supervised all aspects of the study implementation; the remaining authors coordinated testing and helped to draft the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Beijing Ditan Hospital Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There was no conflict of interest and this study was carried out as a part of our routine work.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yao Xie, PhD, Liver Disease Center, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, 8 Jingshun East Street, Beijing 100015, China. xieyao00120184@sina.com
Telephone: +86-10-84322146 Fax: +86-10-84322146
Received: February 11, 2016
Peer-review started: February 12, 2016
First decision: March 9, 2016
Revised: April 6, 2016
Accepted: May 7, 2016
Article in press: May 9, 2016
Published online: May 28, 2016
Processing time: 98 Days and 2.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: This study examined the association between interferon (IFN) therapy and loss of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in inactive HBsAg carriers. This was a retrospective cohort study in inactive HBsAg carriers with a serum HBsAg level < 100 IU/mL and a persistently undetectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level (< 100 IU/mL). All the 20 treated patients received subcutaneous PEG-IFN alfa-2a 180 μg/wk for 72 wk and were then followed for 24 wk. IFN treatment resulted in HBsAg loss (65.0%) and seroconversion in a considerable proportion of inactive HBsAg carriers with low HBsAg concentrations. In the control group, no patient experienced HBsAg loss/seroconversion, and 2 (5.0%) developed HBV reactivation.