Pegylated Interferon-α2b and Lamivudine in Hepatitis B e Antigen-Positive Chronic Hepatitis B (2005)

Letters6 September 2005Pegylated Interferon-α2b and Lamivudine in Hepatitis B e Antigen-Positive Chronic Hepatitis BHenry L.Y. Chan, MD and Joseph J.Y. Sung, MD, PhDHenry L.Y. Chan, MDFrom The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.Search for more papers by this author and Joseph J.Y. Sung, MD, PhDFrom The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-143-5-200509060-00019 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail IN RESPONSE:We appreciate the interest and comments of Drs. ter Borg and Janssen. In our study, the proportion of patients who achieved HBeAg seroconversion at the end of combination treatment with pegylated interferon and lamivudine (60%) was indeed substantially higher than that reported in 2 other multicenter studies (25% to 27%) (1, 2). We agree that this result is surprising, since pegylated interferon was given for 32 weeks in our study compared with a longer treatment duration (48 to 52 weeks) in the other 2 studies. We started pegylated interferon-α2b 8 weeks before the commencement of lamivudine treatment, in ...References1. Janssen HL, van Zonneveld M, Senturk H, Zeuzem S, Akarca US, Cakaloglu Y, et al. Pegylated interferon alfa-2b alone or in combination with lamivudine for HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B: a randomised trial. Lancet. 2005;365:123-9. [PMID: 15639293] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Lau GK, Piratvisuth T, Luo KX, Marcellin P, Thongsawat S, Cooksley G, et al. Peginterferon alfa-2a, lamivudine, and the combination for HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B. N Engl J Med. 2005;352:2682-95. [PMID: 15987917] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Chan HL, Hui AY, Wong VW, Chim AM, Wong ML, Sung JJ. Long-term follow-up of peginterferon and lamivudine combination treatment in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B. Hepatology. 2005;41:1357-64. [PMID: 15880608] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.Disclosures: None disclosed. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoA Randomized, Controlled Trial of Combination Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis B: Comparing Pegylated Interferon-α2b and Lamivudine with Lamivudine Alone Henry Lik-Yuen Chan , Nancy Wai-Yee Leung , Alex Yui Hui , Vincent Wai-Sun Wong , Choong-Tsek Liew , Angel Mei-Ling Chim , Francis Ka-Leung Chan , Lawrence Cheung-Tsui Hung , Yuk-Tong Lee , John Siu-Lun Tam , Christopher Wai-Kei Lam , and Joseph Jao-Yiu Sung Pegylated Interferon-α2b and Lamivudine in Hepatitis B e Antigen-Positive Chronic Hepatitis B Martijn J. ter Borg and Harry L.A. Janssen Metrics 6 September 2005Volume 143, Issue 5Page: 391-392KeywordsDrugsForecastingHepatitis BHepatitis B virusInterferonsMutationPatientsResearch laboratoriesViral load ePublished: 6 September 2005 Issue Published: 6 September 2005 CopyrightCopyright © 2005 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF DownloadLoading ...