Hepatitis B surface antigen levels after hepatitis B e‐antigen seroclearance: a longitudinal follow‐up study

Abstract

HBV DNA levels, but not HBsAg levels, after HBeAg seroclearance were associated with subsequent significant viremia and hepatitic flares. Male gender and older age was associated with significant viremia.

Systematic review of risk factors of hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatitis B surface antigen seroclearance

“…Five were excluded because they were based on the same patient populations as larger studies that were included in our analysis. Seven were excluded because they reported hepatitis B e‐antigen seroclearance . Four case reports were also excluded .…”

“…Seven were excluded because they reported hepatitis B e-antigen seroclearance. 1,[51][52][53][54][55][56] Four case reports were also excluded. [57][58][59][60] In the end, 28 studies were included in the systematic review (Table 1).…”

“…Clearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) reduces the chance of hepatic decompensation and improves overall survival . In patients chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), such seroclearance can occur after antiviral therapy, or, in 0.5%‐1% of patients per year, it can occur spontaneously .…”

“…Clearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) reduces the chance of hepatic decompensation and improves overall survival. 1,2 In patients chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), such seroclearance can occur after antiviral therapy, or, in 0.5%-1% of patients per year, it can occur spontaneously. 3 After HBsAg seroclearance, such patients may benefit from surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as HBV can still be present at low replicative and transcriptional levels.…”

HBsAg loss in chronic hepatitis B: pointers to the benefits of curative therapy

“…The data do not clarify the serial, longitudinal declines in HBsAg concentrations during the phases of the natural history of the disease, and the absence of serial measurements in the analysis does not clarify any decline in HBsAg concentrations during a stepwise process of spontaneous decreases in HBV-DNA concentrations, or seroconversion from HBeAg-positive disease to anti-HBe disease, and eventual HBsAg loss in the HBeAg positive cohort. For example, did the kinetics of HBsAg loss differ, perhaps as a result cell turnover, during the immune active phase in the HBeAg positive patients with high and then lowered levels of HBV replication compared to those with anti-HBe positive disease [15]. Can HBsAg loss be predicted after HBeAg loss [16]?…”