Combination or Sequential Therapy of Peginterferon Alfa-2a and Entecavir for Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B

Summary

Currently, seven medications are approved for the treatment of hepatitis B: two formulations of interferon and five nucleons(t)ide analogues. The current treatment strategy of chronic hepatitis B is now standard: initial selection of entecavir, tenofovir, or peginterferon alfa-2a (peg-IFNα-2a). Interferon is administered for a finite duration while nucleotide analogues are usually administered for many years. But among hepatitis B e antigen （HBeAg） positive patients with high serum hepatitis B virus DNA levels, the rates of virological response are poor. And antiviral drug resistance is a major limiting factor to the success of nucleotide analogue treatment. Therefore, combination therapy using peginterferon with an oral agent with a high genetic barrier to resistance might be superior to standard current monotherapy. However, the addition of lamivudine to peg-IFNα-2a therapy led to a greater decrease in serum HBV DNA levels during treatment but did not increase the rate of HBeAg sero¬conversion. Entecavir is a nucleoside analogue superior to lamivudine and adefovir in achieving higher virological response, histological improvement and normalisation of ALT. Moreover, Entecavir has a high genetic barrier with a very low incidence of drug resistance. This study is aimed to investigate the efficacy of combination or sequential therapy using peg-IFNα-2a and entecavir in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B(CHB) patients.

Timeline

Start

2011-07

Primary completion

2016-07

Completion

2016-07

Publications

• Background Kwon H, Lok AS. Hepatitis B therapy. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2011 May;8(5):275-84. doi: 10.1038/nrgastro.2011.33. Epub 2011 Mar 22.
• Background Ayoub WS, Keeffe EB. Review article: current antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis B. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2011 Nov;34(10):1145-58. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2011.04869.x. Epub 2011 Oct 7.
• Background Kuo A, Gish R. Chronic hepatitis B infection. Clin Liver Dis. 2012 May;16(2):347-69. doi: 10.1016/j.cld.2012.03.003.
• Background Rehermann B, Nascimbeni M. Immunology of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection. Nat Rev Immunol. 2005 Mar;5(3):215-29. doi: 10.1038/nri1573.

Drugs

Indications