Fibrosis progression in chronic hepatitis C patients with occult hepatitis B co-infection

Sustained disease remission after spontaneous HBeAg seroconversion is associated with reduction in fibrosis progression in chronic hepatitis B Chinese patients

“…Likewise, the calculated rate of fibrosis progression, consisting of score fractions, assumes that fibrosis progression is linear. 16,17,26 This invented fraction has limited accuracy because of the absence of histology during the in-between points and the points being defined at the start of the study. Thus, the invented fractions also lack meaning.…”

“…Consecutive patients were included into this study if they fulfilled the following criteria: (1) HBsAg-positive for at least 6 months, (2) HBeAg-positive for at least 6 months, (3) treatment-naive before the initial liver biopsy, (4) had not received antiviral treatment with either nucleoside/nucleotide analogs or immunomodulators during the period between the initial and follow-up liver biopsies, (5) had serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) above the upper limit of normal (7-53 U/l for men and 7-31 U/l for women), (6) had an alcohol intensity of less than 10 g/day as defined, 16,17 and (7) liver biopsy specimen showed at least 9 portal tracts to ensure accurate interpretation of histologic analysis. Patients were excluded from the study if they had: (1) previous therapy with nucleoside/nucleotide analog or immunomodulators; (2) coinfection with hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus, or hepatitis D virus; or (3) HCC at initial liver biopsy.…”

“…The rate of fibrosis progression was calculated as the difference in fibrosis score between the first and follow-up (or second) liver biopsies divided by the duration of the interval between the biopsies and expressed as fibrosis units/ year. 16,17,26 Virological Studies. Patients were followed up every 3-6 months in the outpatient clinic after the first liver biopsy.…”

Comparison of Real-Time PCR Assays for Monitoring Serum Hepatitis B Virus DNA Levels during Antiviral Therapy

“…The use of a real-time fluorescence-based PCR system to detect nucleic acid from other viruses in plasma has recently been developed for the monitoring of HBV DNA levels (4,6,7,13). Two such commercial assays are the RealART HBV LC PCR kit (Artus GmbH, Hamburg, Germany) and the Molecular Beacons assay (Molecular Diagnostics, Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL).…”

“…As newer assays such as the COBAS AMPLICOR HBV MONITOR assay (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland), the Versant HBV DNA 3.0 assay (Bayer Diagnostics), and the Roche HBV TaqMan assay (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland), which are more sensitive than the Digene Hybrid Capture II assay (ultrasensitive) for the quantification of HBV DNA, have become available, more studies will be needed to compare the performance characteristics of the RealART assay with those of these more sensitive assays for the detection of low levels of HBV DNA in order to confirm the accuracy of the RealART assay for the detection of the very low levels of HBV DNA (7,13,15). When the 57 samples in which HBV DNA was undetectable by the Digene Hybrid Capture II assay (ultrasensitive) were retested with the COBAS AMPLICOR HBV MONITOR assay (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland), the results of the COBAS AMPLICOR HBV MONI-TOR assay significantly correlated with those of the RealART assay (r ϭ 0.52; P ϭ 0.008) (data not shown).…”