Prediction of sustained response to low‐dose pegylated interferon alpha‐2b plus ribavirin in patients with genotype 1b and high hepatitis C virus level using viral reduction within 2 weeks after therapy initiation

Aim: Continuation of pegylated interferon (PEG‐IFN) plus ribavirin at the recommended dose is difficult in elderly patients and/or patients with cytopenia or complications. Whether the therapeutic efficacy of low‐dose PEG‐IFN plus ribavirin therapy could be predicted based on virological response within 2 weeks of therapy initiation was evaluated. Methods: A total of 106 patients with a high viral load of genotype‐1b hepatitis C virus (HCV) underwent low‐dose PEG‐IFN plus ribavirin therapy. PEG‐IFN alpha 2b (0.75 µg/kg per week) and ribavirin (600–800 mg/day) were administered for 48 weeks. Results: Sustained virological response (SVR) was achieved in 37%, and treatment was discontinued in 9%. On univariate analysis of SVR‐contributing factors, significant differences were noted in the white blood cell count, platelet count, fibrosis markers, and viral reduction within 2 weeks from therapy initiation. On multivariate analysis, the platelet count and the reduction in the HCV core antigen level at week 2 were independent factors. The positive predictive value (PPV) and the negative predictive value (NPV) for SVR based on a 1‐log or greater HCV‐RNA level reduction at week 2 were 65% and 90%, respectively, and those based on HCV core antigen level at week 2 were 64% and 97%, respectively. PPV and NPV based on a 2‐log or greater reduction of the RNA level were 86% and 67%, respectively, and those based on the core antigen level were 93% and 69%, respectively. Conclusion: Evaluation of viral reduction at week 2 after therapy initiation is useful for predicting SVR to low‐dose PEG‐IFN plus ribavirin therapy.     

丙型肝炎核心抗原检测在丙型肝炎诊断中的意义

目的了解丙型肝炎核心抗原（HCV-cAg）检测方法的敏感性及特异性,确定具有临床意义的S/CO值,探讨其在丙型肝炎诊断中的意义。方法使用ELASA方法检测丙型肝炎核心抗原,RT-PCR检测HCV RNA定量,观察不同S/CO值所对应的HCV RNA定量之间的关系,以HCV RNA为诊断金标准,列四格表做诊断实验。结果 HCV-cAg抗原检测的敏感性为87.05%,特异性为76.67%,阳性预测值为96.53%,阴性预测值为44.23%。结论 （1）随着HCV-cAg的S/CO值逐渐增大,其与HCV RNA阳性符合率明显增高,随着HCV-cAg的S/CO值减小,其与HCV RNA阴性符合率明显增高;（2）S/CO值=2可以作为临床判断HCV感染病毒血症存在的一个标准;（3）本实验的敏感性和特异性较好,检测方法简单,可以作为丙型肝炎临床诊断的补充试验及筛查。     

MxA expression as marker for assessing the therapeutic response in HCV genotype 4 Egyptian patients

Summary. The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection varies across the world, with the highest number of infections reported in Egypt. Expression of the MxA gene has been found to be a reliable and sensitive marker for the induction of endogenous type I interferons (IFNs) during viral infections. This study examined the correlation of gene expression of MxA with the response to treatment with pegylated‐IFN‐alfa2b and ribavirin. Fifty patients with type 4 HCV and 20 healthy volunteers as controls were enrolled in a prospective study designed with strict inclusion criteria to nullify the effect of confounding variables and further minimize selection bias. Quantification of HCV‐RNA and MxA gene by real‐time PCR was performed for every patient, and quantification of MxA gene was performed for controls. There was a statistically significant difference between patients and control group as regards the quantity of MxA gene expression (P < 0.05) (Mann–Whitney test) (P = 0.004). There was a statistically significant difference between responders and nonresponders (P < 0.05): responders showed a higher percentage of cases with initial MxA <2⁶ (P < 0.05). We conclude that MxA protein expression is a sensitive biological marker for ongoing virus replication and presence of type 1 IFN. These results highlight the importance of the detection of MxA expression at the start of therapy as a factor for assessing the likelihood of HCV genotype 4 patients to achieving a sustained virological response to treatment with IFN‐α2 in combination with ribavirin.     

Real‐world impact following initiation of interferon‐free hepatitis C regimens on liver‐related outcomes and all‐cause mortality among patients with compensated cirrhosis

Few studies have investigated clinical outcomes among patients with cirrhosis who were treated with interferon (IFN)‐free direct‐acting antiviral (DAA). We aimed to quantify treatment impact on first decompensated cirrhosis hospital admission, first hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) admission, liver‐related mortality and all‐cause mortality among a national cohort of cirrhotic patients. Through record linkage between Scotland's HCV Clinical Database and inpatient/day‐case hospitalization and deaths records, a study population comprising chronic HCV‐infected patients with compensated cirrhosis and initiated on IFN‐free DAA between 1 March 2013 and 31 March 2018 was analysed. Cox regression evaluated the association of each clinical outcome with time‐dependent treatment status (on treatment, responder, nonresponder or noncompliant), adjusting for patient factors including Child‐Pugh class. Among the study population (n = 1073) involving 1809 years of follow‐up, 75 (7.0%) died (39 from liver‐related causes), 47 progressed to decompensated cirrhosis, and 28 developed HCC. Compared with nonresponders, treatment response (96% among those attending their 12 weeks post‐treatment SVR test) was associated with a reduced relative risk of decompensated cirrhosis (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.14; 95% CI: 0.05‐0.39), HCC (HR = 0.17; 95% CI: 0.04‐0.79), liver‐related death (HR = 0.13; 95% CI: 0.05‐0.34) and all‐cause mortality (HR = 0.30; 95% CI: 0.12‐0.76). Compared with responders, noncompliant patients had an increased risk of liver‐related (HR = 6.73; 95% CI: 2.99‐15.1) and all‐cause (HR = 5.45; 95% CI: 3.07‐9.68) mortality. For HCV patients with cirrhosis, a treatment response was associated with a lower risk of severe liver complications and improved survival. Our findings suggest additional effort is warranted to address the higher mortality among the minority of cirrhotic patients who do not comply with DAA treatment or associated RNA testing.     

Mutations in the core and NS5A region of hepatitis C virus genotype 1b and correlation with response to pegylated‐interferon‐alpha 2b and ribavirin combination therapy

Summary. Mutations in two regions of hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been implicated in influencing response to interferon (IFN) therapy. Substitutions in the NS5A region of HCV have been associated with response to IFN therapy, and this region has been known as the IFN sensitivity‐determining region (ISDR). The mutations in the core region of HCV have also been reported to predict IFN response. The aim of this study was to investigate whether amino acid substitutions in the core region and ISDR among patients with HCV genotype 1b affect the response to IFN therapy. A total of 213 patients who completed IFN treatment were randomly selected. All patients received pegylated‐IFN‐alpha 2b once each week, plus oral ribavirin daily for 48 weeks. Of the 213 patients, 117 (54.9%) showed early virologic response (EVR), with HCV‐negativity, at 12 weeks. Factors related to EVR on multivariate analysis were non‐Gln70 and Leu91 in the core region, and ISDR mutant‐type. One hundred and two (47.9%) showed a sustained virologic response (SVR). SVR occurred more frequently in patients without Gln70 (55.4%) than in those with Gln70 (21.3%) (P < 0.0001). SVR was achieved in 43.6% of patients with wild‐type ISDR and 62.5% of patients with mutant‐type (P = 0.0227). Of the 34 patients who simultaneously had non‐Gln70 and mutant‐type ISDR, 26 (76.5%) achieved SVR. Factors related to SVR on multivariate analysis were non‐Gln70 and ISDR mutant‐type. In conclusion, amino acid substitutions in the core region and ISDR were useful for predicting the response to IFN in patients with HCV genotype 1b.     

Clinical relevance of total HCV core antigen testing for hepatitis C monitoring and for predicting patients' response to therapy

Summary. To study the correlation between total Hepatitis C virus (HCV) Core antigen (Ag) and HCV-RNA, and to assess the proficiency of HCV Core Ag testing in monitoring and predicting virologic response during and after pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin combination therapy.
A total of 307 samples from treated and untreated patients were used to assess the correlation between the total HCV Core Ag test and quantitative HCV-RNA assays (Superquant, and Quantiplex branched DNA 2.0 assay). Twenty-four patients received combination therapy for 48 weeks. Blood samples were collected at day 0, and week 2, 4, 12, 24, 48 and 72 for virologic evaluation.
A linear relation exists between total HCV Core Ag and HCV-RNA levels. At 3 months the positive predictive value (PPV) of response to therapy was 100% with either HCV Core Ag or HCV-RNA. For HCV Core Ag the negative predictive value (NPV) was 100% whereas for HCV-RNA the NPV was 80% ( P  > 0.05). At month 1, the PPV was 95% and 100% when determined by HCV Core Ag and HCV-RNA, respectively. The NPV value was 100% for HCV Core Ag and 33% for HCV-RNA ( P  = 0.005).
HCV Core Ag quantification could be useful in clinical practice to predict a sustained virological response early during therapy (4 weeks), reaching an optimal performance at month 3. The determination of total HCV Core Ag levels in serum, constitutes an accurate and reliable alternative to HCV-RNA for monitoring and predicting treatment outcome in patients receiving PEG-IFN/Ribavirin combination therapy.     

联合检测HBV前S1抗原和核心抗原的临床意义

探讨联合检测血清HBV前s1抗原（preSl）和核心抗原（HBcAg）（均为HBV核酸相关抗原，nucleic acids related antigen，HBV NRAg）的意义及临床价值。方法：采用ELISA法对393份HBsAg、HBV DNA双阳性的血清和612份HBsAg阴性血清进行HBV NRAg检测，所有标本均采用多区段巢式PCR确认阳性、阴性，采用荧光定量PCR法进行HBV DNA定量分析。结果：393份HBsAg、HBV DNA双阳性血清中，HBV NRAg阳性为382份，其阳性率为97．2％；612份HBsAg阴性的血清标本中，609份确认为HBV DNA阴性，其中检出2份HBV NRAg阳性，607份为阴性，其HBV NRAg的阴性率为99．7％（607／609），另3份HBsAg阴性血清HBV DNA阳性者，其HBV NRAg均为阳性。结论：联合检测preSl和HBcAg的HBV NRAg可作为临床HBV感染的筛选及判断HBV复制的有意义的补充项目。     

Efficacy of 12 or 18 weeks of elbasvir plus grazoprevir with ribavirin in treatment‐naïve,noncirrhotic HCV genotype 3‐infected patients

Elbasvir (EBR; HCV NS5A inhibitor) and grazoprevir (GZR; HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitor) are approved as a fixed‐dose combination to treat patients chronically infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4. During the development programme and supported by in vitro potency, the efficacy of EBR+GZR was assessed in HCV GT3‐infected patients. This study's aim was to determine the efficacy and tolerability of 12 or 18 weeks of EBR+GZR with ribavirin (RBV) in treatment‐naïve, noncirrhotic HCV GT3‐infected patients. Randomized patients received open‐label EBR (50 mg once daily) + GZR (100 mg once daily) + RBV. The primary efficacy objective was to evaluate the sustained virologic response rates 12 weeks after the end of all study therapy (SVR12). SVR12 rates (95% confidence interval) were 45.0% (23.1, 68.5) and 57.1% (34.0, 78.2) after treatment with EBR+GZR+RBV for 12 weeks or 18 weeks, respectively. On‐treatment virologic failure was observed in 41% (17 of 41) of patients. At virologic failure, resistance‐associated substitutions (RASs) with a >five‐fold shift in potency occurred in the NS3 region in six (35%) patients and in the NS5A region in 16 (94%) patients. The most common RAS at virologic failure was Y93H in NS5A which was identified in 13 of 17 (76%) patients. The efficacy of EBR+GZR+RBV was suboptimal in HCV GT3‐infected patients due to a high rate of on‐treatment virologic failure and treatment‐emergent RASs which demonstrates an inadequate barrier to the development of GT3 resistance. However, rapid viral clearance demonstrated the antiviral activity of EBR+GZR+RBV in GT3‐infected patients.clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01717326.     

Clearance of serum hepatitis C virus RNA after interferon therapy in relation to virus genotype

Abstract: The effect of recombinant interferon-alfa on serum HCV RNA levels in Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis C was investigated. At 24 weeks of treatment, 41 (32.5%) of 126 patients lost HCV RNA from serum, and aminotransferases were normalized in 31 (75.6%) of these 41 cases. HCV genotypes were categorized into four types (Type I, II, III, IV); the frequencies among the patients were: Type I: 0%, Type II: 70.6%, Type III: 20.6%, and Type IV: 6.3%. At the end of the 24-week treatment, HCV RNA levels were remarkably decreased in Type III patients and became undetectable in 18 (69.2%) of 26. In contrast, only 18 (20.2%) of 89 patients with Type II and two of eight with Type IV lost HCV RNA from sera. The relation between HCV genotype (Type III) and response to IFN therapy was also confirmed using a logistic regression model. HCV genotype seems to be an important factor in determining the response to IFN in patients with chronic hepatitis C.     

HCV不同功能区抗体与HCVRNA的关系探讨

探讨HCV不同功能区抗体(抗-C、抗-NS3、抗-NS4及抗-NS5)与HCVRNA的关系。HCV不同功能区抗体测定采用ELISA法,用RT-PCR进行HCV RNA检测。结果显示55例抗HCV阳性血清中有7种抗体阳性组合。抗-NS3、抗-C、抗-NS5及抗-NS4在7种阳性组合中的检出率分别为96．4%、89．1%、58．2%、56．4%。HCVRNA阳性血清中抗-NS3、抗-C、抗-NS5及抗NS4的检出率分别为96．2%,88．5%,57．7%,57．7%。HCV不同功能区抗体ELISA法有很高的敏感性和特异性,与RT-PCR法基本一致。抗-NS3、抗-C在HCV的诊断中有重要的意义,抗-NS5和抗-NS4有诊断的互补作用。     

Association between HCV amino acid substitutions and outcome of peginterferon and ribavirin combination therapy in HCV genotype 1b and high viral load

Background and Aim: We prospectively compared the sensitivity to interferon (IFN) and the efficacy of antiviral combination therapy with peginterferon (PEG‐IFN) and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b infection according to the amino acid sequences of the HCV core, E1, and NS5A regions reported to be associated with the outcome of antiviral therapy. Methods: A total of 107 patients with HCV genotype 1b were investigated. All patients received combination therapy with PEG‐IFN alpha‐2b and ribavirin. Amino acids 70 and 91 (core), 139 (E1), and 2209–2248 (NS5A) of HCV were analyzed by direct nucleotide sequencing. Results: The reduction in HCV RNA concentration at 24 h after a single administration of conventional IFN‐alpha and after the start of combination therapy was significantly less marked, and rates of complete early virologic response, end‐of‐treatment response, and sustained virologic response (SVR) were significantly lower (all P < 0.0001) in patients with glutamine at amino acid 70 (n = 29) than in those with arginine at that position (n = 70). We found no differences associated with the other amino acid positions. Amino acid 70 was an independent factor for the responses to the therapy in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: The identity of amino acid 70 of the HCV core region affected the sensitivity to IFN; patients with glutamine at amino acid 70 of HCV showed resistance to IFN. Consequently, it strongly affected the outcome of combination therapy with PEG‐IFN and ribavirin in Japanese patients with HCV genotype 1b.     

Mechanism of the dependence of hepatitis B virus genotype G on co‐infection with other genotypes for viral replication

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is classified into several genotypes. Genotype G (HBV/G) is characterised by worldwide dispersion, low intragenotypic diversity and a peculiar sequence of the precore and core region (stop codon and 36‐nucleotide insertion). As a rule, HBV/G is detected in co‐infection with another genotype, most frequently HBV/A2. In a previous in vivo study, viral replication of HBV/G was significantly enhanced by co‐infection with HBV/A2. However, the mechanism by which co‐infection with HBV/A2 enhances HBV/G replication is not fully understood. In this study, we employed 1.24‐fold HBV/A2 clones that selectively expressed each viral protein and revealed that the core protein expressing construct significantly enhanced the replication of HBV/G in Huh7 cells. The introduction of the HBV/A2 core promoter or core protein or both genomic regions into the HBV/G genome showed that both the core promoter and core protein are required for efficient HBV/G replication. The effect of genotype on the interaction between foreign core protein and HBV/G showed that HBV/A2 was the strongest enhancer of HBV/G replication. Furthermore, Western blot analysis of Dane particles isolated from cultures of Huh7 cells co‐transfected by HBV/G and a cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter–driven HBV/A2 core protein expression construct indicated that HBV/G employed HBV/A2 core protein during particle assembly. In conclusion, HBV/G could take advantage of core proteins from other genotypes during co‐infection to replicate efficiently and to effectively package HBV DNA into virions.     

Hepatitis C viral load, genotype and histological severity in patients with bleeding disorders

We report the relationship between hepatitis C virus (HCV) titre, liver histology and HCV genotype in patients with bleeding disorders. One hundred and thirty-two RIBA-2-positive patients, including 56 who were also HIV positive, were identified at our centre. Fifty of these patients, including nine who were HIV infected, underwent percutaneous liver biopsy. Liver histology was assessed using a modified histological activity index (HAI). Qualitative serum HCV PCR was positive in 87 (87%) of the 101 patients tested including 43 of 50 biopsied patients. HCV RNA titres, measured by quantitative PCR, were significantly higher in HIV-positive patients compared with HIV-negative patients (P < 0.05) but were not related to HAI, mean factor concentrate usage, duration of HCV infection or HCV genotype. There was no relationship between HCV genotype and HAI. Qualitative HCV PCR was positive in 30 of 43 liver biopsies tested. Biopsy PCR-positive and -negative cohorts were not distinguished by HAI or serum HCV titre. We conclude that although serum HCV PCR is useful in confirming the presence of HCV infection in patients with bleeding disorders, little meaningful information concerning the severity of the disease can be obtained from serum HCV quantification.