BACKGROUND No data are available on HIV/hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus coinfection in Togo, and patients are not routinely tested for HBV infection. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of HBV and the risk of HBV drug resistance during antiretroviral treatment in HIV-coinfected patients in Togo. METHOD  This cross-sectional study was carried out in Lomé, Togo, from January 20...

Mutants in the basal core promoter (BCP) and precore (PC) regions of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome are associated with the progression of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection. However, quasispecies characteristics of naturally occurring mutants in those regions in HBeAg-positive CHB patients has not been well described, partly limited by quantitative assay. This study aimed to develop an Ion To...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the infections with a highest prevalence in Taiwan. The most important marker is hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Using the new generation of HBsAg quantitative assay, HBsAg level may have good correlation with viral activity during different phases of chronic hepatitis B virus infection. This study was conducted to compare two assays o...

There have been reports of relapse after cessation of lamivudine monotherapy for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The aim of this study was to examine factors that predict posttreatment relapse. Comparison 22 patients who experienced relapse with 11 who did not after cessation of therapy showed that predictive factors for nonrelapse were hepatitis B e antigen seroconversion and duration of un...

The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of the serum markers HBsAg and HBeAg and PreS1 protein (PreS1-Ag) in quantifying the levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). One thousand CHB patients were recruited from Beijing You'an Hospital between June and December 2012. Serum HBsAg and HBeAg levels were detected by electrochemiluminesc...

International guidelines recommend lifelong nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) treatment in individuals with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection who are hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seronegative, because hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroconversion is rarely achieved. However, after terminating therapy, sustained responses and HBsAg loss have been observed. Clinical characteristics identifying ...

BACKGROUND The current clinical practice on chronic hepatitis B (CHB) requires better on-treatment monitoring of viral persistence. Quantified assays for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and core-related antigen (HBcrAg) hold promise for further optimization of therapy. Here, we aimed to characterize HBcrAg during the natural course of CHB. METHODS Four-hundred and forty four treatment naï...

Background: Entecavir (ETV) has been shown to be effective in randomized controlled trials in highly selected patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of ETV in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in the real-world setting. Methods: A total of 233 treatment-naïve, CHB patients who received at least 12 months of ETV treatment were included in th...

A novel vector (pFS2.2) for high-level expression of fusion polypeptides with the nontoxic subunit B (LT-B) of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin in Escherichia coli and salmonellae is presented. It carries the complete coding sequence of LT-B under lac promoter control and a universal polylinker site for the in-frame insertion of foreign genes at the LT-B gene 3' end. By using this vecto...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS There is paucity of Indian data regarding serum HBsAg levels (qHBsAg) in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB). This study was done to determine correlation of qHBsAg with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels and its ability to independently categorize subgroups of CHB. METHODS We studied 131 treatment-naive CHB patients and initially cl...