Serum hepatitis B surface antigen levels predict treatment response to nucleos(t)ide analogues

Table 4 Hepatitis B surface antigen predict hepatitis B virus relapse after stopping nucleos(t)ide analogues therapy

Patients	NAs and treatment duration	Definition of HBV relapse or sustained response (SR)	Comments	Ref.
17 HBeAg (+) patients	telbivudine for 104 wk	SR: HBV DNA < 300 copies/mL, HBeAg seroconversion, ALT normalization at 2 yr off-treatment	HBsAg levels < 100 IU/mL at the end of treatment and HBsAg decline of > 0.8 and > 1 log IU/mL at treatment weeks 24 and 52 were predictive of SR	[59]
51 HBeAg (+) patients	lamivudine, adefovir or entecavir	SR: HBV DNA levels < 10000 copies/mL until 6 or 12 mo off-treatment without reappearance of HBeAg	A decline in HBsAg of 0.5 log IU/mL at 6 mo was the independent factor for SR at 6 mo off-treatment	[60]
	Stop treatment: HBeAg loss/seroconversion and ≥ 12 mo of additional therapy		A decline in HBsAg was not a significant factor for SR at 12 mo off-treatment
41 HBeAg (+), 43 HBeAg (-) patients	lamivudine, adefovir or entecavirStop treatment: according to the 2008 APASL guidelines	Virological relapse: HBV DNA > 1000 copies/mL after discontinuation of treatment	HBsAg levels < 100 IU/mL at the end of treatment was predictive of SR	[61]
53 HBeAg (-) patients	Lamivudine for 34 ± 23 mo	SR: HBV DNA ≤ 200 IU/mL at 12 mooff-treatment.	Combined HBsAg ≤ 100 IU/ml and HBsAg reduction > 1 log at the end of treatment were predictive of SR	[62]
83 HBeAg (+), 105 HBeAg (-) patients	Lamivudine for 89.3 ± 35.9 wk	SR: serum HBV DNA to ≤ 2000 IU/mL after discontinuation of treatment	HBeAg (+) patients: HBsAg (cut-off value of < 300 IU/mL) at the end of treatment was predictive of HBsAg loss	[63]
			HBeAg (-) patients: HBsAg (cut-off values of < 120 and < 200 IU/mL) at the end of treatment was predictive of HBsAg loss and SR respectively.
46 HBeAg (+), 96 HBeAg (-) patients	Entecavir for 153.6 ± 43.9 wk	Virological relapse: HBV DNA > 2000 IU/mL.	HBeAg (+) patients: HBsAg (cut-off value of < 4000 IU/mL) at baseline was predictive of virological and clinical relapse	[64]
	Fulfilled the stopping criteria of the APASL 2012	Clinical relapse: HBV DNA > 2000 IU/mL and ALT > 2 X ULN	HBeAg (-) patients: HBsAg (cut-off values of < 200 and < 500 IU/mL) at the end of treatment were predictive of virological and clinical relapse respectively

HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; APASL: Asian pacific association for the study of the liver; ALT: Alanineaminotransferase; ULN: Upper limit of normal.