Association Between Serum Level of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen at End of Entecavir Therapy and Risk of Relapse in E Antigen–Negative Patients

Treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection‐2017

“…The usefulness of end‐of‐treatment qHBsAg in predicting a sustained viral response after stopping nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment has been explored. It has been suggested that end‐of‐treatment serum qHBsAg levels can predict off‐therapy sustained virological response and patients with a low qHBsAg level <10 IU/mL did not relapse . However, larger prospective studies are certainly needed for validation.…”

“…Withthewideavailabilityofnucleos ( and patients with a low qHBsAg level <10IU/mL did not relapse. 34 However, larger prospective studies are certainly needed forvalidation.Nevertheless,patientswithCHBandwithoutcirrhosiswhoare receiving nucleos(t)ide analogues with virological response >2years canstoptreatmentaslongastheycanbecloselymonitored. 32…”

Okuda lecture: Challenges of hepatitis B in the era of antiviral therapy

“…As HBsAg level can be very low in patients with HBeAg‐negative disease, the absolute level of HBsAg alone sometimes cannot accurately predict hepatitis relapse . A study in Taiwan showed that the 3‐year cumulative incidence of virologic relapse was 39.6% and clinical relapse was 15.3% among 25 patients who stopped entecavir with end of treatment HBsAg level of < 100 IU/mL . One better possible alternative is to use both the absolute HBsAg level and decline of HBsAg from pretreatment level to predict off‐treatment virologic relapse.…”

“…59 A study in Taiwan showed that the 3-year cumulative incidence of virologic relapse was 39.6% and clinical relapse was 15.3% among 25 patients who stopped entecavir with end of treatment HBsAg level of < 100 IU/mL. 60 One better possible alternative is to use both the absolute HBsAg level and decline of HBsAg from pretreatment level to predict off-treatment virologic relapse. In a study in Hong Kong, among HBeAg-negative patients who stopped lamivudine therapy, virologic relapse (HBV-DNA > 200 IU/mL at 1-year posttreatment) was observed in none of the five patients who had HBsAg decline by > 1 log with end of treatment HBsAg level < 100 IU/mL; 50% of the eight patients who had either HBsAg decline by > 1 log or HBsAg level < 100 IU/mL had virologic relapse; and all 41 patients who had HBsAg decline < 1 log and HBV-DNA > 100 IU/mL had virologic relapse.…”

Predicting Outcomes of Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection Based on Quantification of the Hepatitis B Surface Antigen

“…Hsu et al report findings from prospective cohort study in Taiwan of HBeAg-negative or initially HBeAg-positive patients treated for 3 years with entecavir(8). Several variables were associated with post-treatment outcomes.…”