Long-term follow-up of Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon-α

Genotype and variations in core promoter and pre-core regions are related to progression of disease in HBV-infected patients from Northern Vietnam

“…When comparing A1762T/G1764A to G1896A, the frequency was converse in genotypes B and C (Table II). The findings on the frequency of A1762T/G1764A and G1896A in relation to genotypes B and C in Vietnamese were similar to those in studies of people from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan (13,20,22,23,41,52), and confirmed that A1762T/G1764A was relatively common and G1896A was prevalent in genotype B in Northern Vietnam. In addition, the HBeAg seroconversion rate in genotype B was significantly higher than that in genotype C, accompanied by different HBV-DNA levels between genotypes B and C. These findings might imply that HBeAg seroconversion happens more easily and liver disease progresses more slowly in genotype B than genotype C. The different frequencies of mutations in the core promoter and pre-core regions between genotypes B and C in Vietnamese might contribute to the different roles of these genotypes in the pathogenesis of liver diseases.…”

Postoperative interferon α treatment postponed recurrence and improved overall survival in patients after curative resection of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomized clinical trial

“…In patients with HBV infection, several studies showed that HBV-DNA load is a risk factor for HCC (Ikeda et al 2005;Liaw 2005), and IFN a treatment will reduce the HBV-DNA load. These results suggested that the anti-tumor effect of IFN a may also relate with clearance of HBV (Lau et al 2005;van der Eijk et al 2006); however, this hypothesis is still in debate (Lok 2004;Truong et al 2005). In this study, we did not monitor the HBV-DNA level, but our results implied that the effect of IFN a treatment on recurrence may be associated with the inhibition of tumor growth rather than anti-carcinogenesis by suppression of HBV infection.…”

Adjuvant interferon therapy after surgical treatment for hepatitis B/C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma: A meta‐analysis

“…This conclusion seemed to result largely from analyzing data of HCC caused by HBV and HCV together. In a separate report from Japan, among 89 patients who were followed up for 2–14 years, adjuvant IFN‐α (daily for the first 2 weeks and 3 times per week for 24 weeks) affected neither hepatitis B e‐antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion nor clearance of serum HBV DNA in Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) . The reasons of our conclusion were as follows.…”