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Multicenter Study
. 2014 May;12(5):885-93.
doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2013.09.062. Epub 2013 Oct 6.

Antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B virus infection and development of hepatocellular carcinoma in a US population

Stuart C Gordon  1 , Lois E Lamerato  2 , Loralee B Rupp  2 , Jia Li  2 , Scott D Holmberg  3 , Anne C Moorman  3 , Philip R Spradling  3 , Eyasu H Teshale  3 , Vinutha Vijayadeva  4 , Joseph A Boscarino  5 , Emily M Henkle  6 , Nancy Oja-Tebbe  2 , Mei Lu  2 ; CHeCS Investigators
Collaborators, Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B virus infection and development of hepatocellular carcinoma in a US population

Stuart C Gordon et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014 May.

Abstract

Background & aims: Antiviral therapy could reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among persons with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We evaluated the relationship between therapy for chronic HBV infection and HCC incidence using data from a longitudinal study of patients at 4 US healthcare centers.

Methods: We analyzed electronic health records of 2671 adult participants in the Chronic Hepatitis Cohort Study who were diagnosed with chronic HBV infection from 1992 through 2011 (49% Asian). Data analyzed were collected for a median of 5.2 years. Propensity-score adjustment was used to reduce bias, and Cox regression was used to estimate the relationship between antiviral treatment and HCC. The primary outcome was time to event of HCC incidence.

Results: Of study subjects, 3% developed HCC during follow-up period: 20 cases among the 820 patients with a history of antiviral HBV therapy and 47 cases among the 1851 untreated patients. In propensity-adjusted Cox regression, patients who received antiviral therapy had a lower risk of HCC than those who did not receive antiviral therapy (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.39; 95% confidence interval, 0.27-0.56; P < .001), after adjusting for abnormal level of alanine aminotransferase. In a subgroup analysis, antiviral treatment was associated with a lower risk of HCC after adjusting for serum markers of cirrhosis (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.24; 95% confidence interval, 0.15-0.39; P < .001). In a separate subgroup analysis of patients with available data on HBV DNA viral load, treated patients with viral loads >20,000 IU/mL had a significantly lower risk of HCC than untreated patients with viral loads >20,000 IU/mL.

Conclusions: In a large geographically, clinically, and racially diverse US cohort, antiviral therapy for chronic HBV infection was associated with a reduced risk for HCC.

Keywords: Alanine Aminotransferase; Fibrosis; Liver Cancer; Tumor.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

This author discloses the following: Stuart C. Gordon receives grant and research support from AbbVie Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Merck, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He is also a consultant for Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CVS Caremark, Gilead Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Novartis, and Vertex and is on the Data Monitoring Board for Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The remaining authors disclose no conflicts.

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References

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