Personalized Therapy of Chronic Hepatitis C and B Dually Infected Patients With Pegylated Interferon Plus Ribavirin: A Randomized Study

Abstract

We aimed to investigate whether response-guided therapy (RGT) with peginterferon-alpha plus ribavirin by using hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype, pretreatment HCV RNA levels, and rapid virological response (RVR, undetectable HCV RNA at treatment week 4) could be applied for active HCV/hepatitis B virus (HBV) dually infected patients, without compromised the treatment efficacy.A total of 203 patients, seropositive of HCV antibody, HCV RNA and HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), and seronegative for HBV e antigen for >6 months, were randomized to receive peginterferon-alpha/ribavirin by either genotype-guided therapy (GGT, n = 102: HCV genotype 1 [HCV-1], 48 weeks; HCV-2/3, 24 weeks) or RGT (n = 101: HCV-1, 48 or 24 weeks if patients with baseline VL <400,000 IU/mL and RVR; HCV-2/3, 24 or 16 weeks if patients with RVR). The primary endpoint was HCV-sustained virological response (SVR).The HCV SVR rate was comparable between the GGT (77.5%, 79/102) and RGT groups (70.3%, 71/101, P = 0.267), either among HCV-1/HBV (69.4% [43/62] vs 63.5% [40/63], P = 0.571) or among HCV-2/3/HBV (90.0% [36/40] vs 81.6% [31/38], P = 0.342) dually infected patients based on intention-to-treat analysis. In HCV-1/HBV dually infected patients, RVR (odds ratio [OR]: 6.05; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 2.148-17.025, P = 0.001) and lower pretreatment blood glucose levels (OR: 0.97; CI: 0.944-0.989, P = 0.003) were independent predictors of HCV SVR. Although RVR (OR: 10.68; CI: 1.948-58.514, P = 0.006) was the only significant factor associated with HCV SVR in HCV-2/3/HBV dually infected patients. HBsAg loss at 1 year posttreatment was observed in 17 of 185 (9.2%) patients. The rates of discontinuation and adverse events were similar between the 2 groups.RGT with peginterferon-alpha/RBV may be considered for HBeAg-negative HBV/HCV dually infected patients.

FIGURE 1

Study design of the open label, randomized-controlled, comparative trial. G-1 = genotype 1, G-2/3 = genotype 2/3, GGT = genotype guided therapy, HVL = high viral load, pretreatment HCV RNA >400,000 IU/mL, LD RBV = low dose ribavirin, 800 mg/day, LVL = low viral load, pretreatment HCV RNA ≤400,000 IU/mL, RGT = response guided therapy, RVR = rapid virological response, HCV RNA <50 IU/mL at treatment week 4, SD RBV = standard dose ribavirin, 1000-1200 mg/day.

FIGURE 2

Patient flowchart. F/U = follow-up, GGT = genotype guided therapy, GT = genotype, HBsAg = hepatitis B surface antigen, HCC = hepatocellular carcinoma, HCV = hepatitis C virus, RGT = response guided therapy, SAE = serious adverse event,.