Lamivudine/interferon combination therapy in anti-HBe positive chronic hepatitis B patients: a controlled pilot study

Hepatitis B virus resistance to antivirals: clinical implications and management

“…Results of trials associating or combining sequentially lamivudine and interferon alpha are discussed in another manuscript in this issue of J. Hepatol (Schalm et al). Some studies but not all, suggest that the addition of interferon alpha to lamivudine either in association (38) or sequentially (39) may decrease the rate of lamivudine resistance. This should be confirmed in further independent trials.…”

Pegylated Interferon Alfa-2b Monotherapy and Pegylated Interferon Alfa-2b plus Lamivudine Combination Therapy for Patients with Hepatitis B Virus E Antigen-Negative Chronic Hepatitis B

“…Another controversial issue is whether to use nucleoside/nucleotide analogues alone, IFN alfa alone, or both in combinations. Previous studies showed that the combination of IFN alfa and lamivudine does not increase the rate of treatment success in patients with HBeAg-negative CHB (10)(11)(12). In two largescale, randomized, controlled studies of patients with HBeAgpositive CHB, similar virological response rates occurred whether PEG-IFN alfa-2a or PEG-IFN alfa-2b was administered as monotherapy or in combination with lamivudine (5, 7).…”

Relationship between serum b2-microglobulin levels and virological breakthrough in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B patients, under long-term treatment schedules including lamivudine

“…The role of combination therapy in preventing VB, compared to LAM monotherapy, has been confirmed in HBeAg-negative [13,21] as well as HBeAg-positive [22] CHB patients. However, in our study the treatment period was longer enough (36 mo) in both groups of patients than other studies.…”

“…Combination therapy is the treatment of choice for chronic hepatitis C-infected patients by increasing the response rates as well as for HIVinfected ones by reducing the emergence of drug resistance. Recently, Santantonio et al [13] , observed that combination treatment (LAM plus interferon) in HBeAg-negative CHB patients was as beneficial as LAM monotherapy, but the combination regimen appeared to delay or prevent the emergence of HBV-DNA polymerase mutants. However, the clinical impact of these mutations is still controversial [9][10][11] and the prediction of virological breakthrough (VB) is an issue needing further investigation.…”