Entecavir add-on or switch-to pegylated interferon improves HBsAg clearance in HBe antigen negative chronic hepatitis B patients

Abstract

Entecavir add-on or switch-to pegylated interferon improves HBsAg clearance in HBe antigen negative chronic hepatitis B patients Lei Yan,1,* Chuanwu Zhu,2,* Jing Li,3,* Liwen Chen,1 Yezhou Ding,1 Zhujun Cao,1 Kehui Liu,1,4 Lanyi Lin,1 Weiliang Tang,1 Qing Xie,1 Yumin Xu,1 Shisan Bao,5 Hui Wang1 1Department of Infectious Diseases, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China; 2Department of Infectious Diseases, The Fifth People’s Hospital of Suzhou, Jiangsu 215007, China; 3Department of Infectious Diseases, Huai-An Fourth People’s Hospital, Jiangsu 223002, China; 4Department of Infectious Diseases, Rui Jin Hospital North, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201801, China; 5Discipline of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences and Bosch Institute, Charles Perkin Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia *These authors contributed equally to this work Background and aims: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients rarely achieve hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss with nucleoside/nucleotide analog therapy. Methods: In this retrospective study, it was evaluated that the rate of HBsAg loss in the HBe antigen negative (HBeAg−) patients (n