Effect of antiviral treatment on hepatitis B virus integration and hepatocyte clonal expansion

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Effect of antiviral treatment on hepatitis B virus integration and hepatocyte clonal expansion via Clinical Infectious Diseases Advance Access Abstract Background This study investigated the effect of nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUC) treatment on HBV DNA integration and hepatocyte clonal expansion, both of which are implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in chronic hepatitis B. Methods Twenty-eight patients receiving NUCs (11 lamivudine, 7 telbivudine, 10 entecavir) were included. All had liver biopsies at baseline and year 1, and seven had a third biopsy at year 10. HBV DNA integration and hepatocyte clone size were assessed by inverse PCR. Results All patients had detectable HBV integration at baseline, with a median integration frequency of 1.01×109 per liver and hepatocyte clone size of 2.41×105. Neither integration frequency nor hepatocyte clone size correlated with age and HBV virologic parameters. After one year of treatment, HBV integration was still detectable in all patients, with a median of 5.74×108 integration per li ver (0.22 log reduction; P = .008) and hepatocyte clone size of 1.22×105 (0.40 log reduction; P = .002). HBV integration remained detectable at year 10 of treatment, with a median integration frequency of 4.84×107 integration per liver (0.93 log reduction from baseline) and hepatocyte clone size of 2.55×104 (1.02 log reduction from baseline). From baseline through year 1 to year 10, there was a decreasing trend in both integration frequency and hepatocyte clone size (P = .066 and.018, respectively). Conclusions NUCs reduced both HBV DNA integration and hepatocyte clonal expansion, suggesting another alternative pathway besides direct viral suppression to reduce HCC risk. Our findings supported the notion for a long-term NUC treatment to prevent HCC. View on Web

Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.