ASSESSMENT OF PATIENTS WITH THERAPY INDUCED HBEAG SEROCONVERSION: A REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE

Cumhur Artuk^{1, *}, Murat Afyon², Hanefi Cem Gul¹, Ismail Yasar Avci¹ 

¹Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Gulhane School of Medicine, Univesity of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey - ²Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, First Step Examination, Family Health Center And The Naval Academy Clinic Tuzla/Istanbul, Turkey

Objective: We aimed to evaluate clinical and laboratory features of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients before and after the therapy-induced Hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion. 

Material and methods: The data including patients’ serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), HBV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) levels, fibrosis scores and histological activity index (HAI) scores at baseline and after HBeAg seroconversion, treatment regimen used till HBeAg seroconversion and the elapsed time for HBeAg seroconversion after the beginning of therapy were recorded. Statistical analyses were performed by SSPS 20.0.

Results: Overall, 67 (87%) men and 10 (13%) women were included in the study. The elapsed time for HBeAg seroconversion after the beginning of therapy was significantly shorter (p=0.011) in patients used IFNs (n=65, 411.75±509.55 days) compared with patients used only NAs (n=12, 708.92±524.50 days). Baseline serum ALT levels (140.02±95.58 IU/ml vs. 101.15±75.80 IU/ml, p=0.055 ) and AST levels (73.30±37.63 IU/ml vs. 54.38±25.90 IU/ml, p=0.045) were higher and serum HBV DNA levels were lower (6.63±2.17 log10 IU/ml vs. 7.23±1.28 log10 IU/ml, p=0.459) in patients (n=64, 83.1%) with the duration of equal or less than 1000 days for HBeAg seroconversion after the beginning of therapy. In this regard, we also evaluated a novel scoring system including first treatment regimen, baseline serum ALT, AST and HBV DNA levels to predict that whether or not the elapsed time for HBeAg seroconversion after the beginning of therapy may be less than 1000 days. Area under the ROC curve (AUROC) for the novel score was 0.719 (p=0.013).

Conclusion: Score models consisting of first treatment regimen, baseline serum ALT, AST, and HBV DNA levels to predict the elapsed time for HBeAg seroconversion may be constituted.