ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Infectious Diseases
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1582997
This article is part of the Research TopicWorld Hepatitis Day - Advances in Hepatitis Research: Bridging Gaps and Exploring New FrontiersView all 4 articles
Short-Term Pegylated Interferon Alpha In Chronic HBV Patients With Ultra-Low HBsAg: A Retrospective Study
Provisionally accepted
- Army Medical University, Chongqing, China
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Background and Aims: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) clearance defined as the HBsAg level is below the lower limit of detection is critical for the functional cure of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). This study evaluated the efficacy of short-term Pegylated Interferon alpha (Peg-IFNα) therapy in achieving HBsAg clearance in CHB patients with ultra-low HBsAg levels (<50 IU/ml). Methods: A total of 378 CHB patients with HBsAg levels <50 IU/ml were enrolled, including 206 nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs)-treated patients and 172 inactive HBsAg carriers (IHCs). The NUCs-treated cohort was divided into 83 patients receiving additional Peg-IFNα treatment (NUCs add-on Peg-IFNα group) and 123 patients continuing NUCs monotherapy (NUCs group). The IHCs cohort was divided into 86 patients receiving Peg-IFNα treatment (Peg-IFNα group) and 86 untreated patients (Untreated group). The primary endpoint was the HBsAg clearance rate at week 24. Results: At week 24, the HBsAg clearance rates in the NUCs add-on Peg-IFNα group and the Peg-IFNα group were 69.88% and 55.81%, respectively (P=0.059), significantly higher than the zero clearance rates in the NUCs and Untreated groups (P <0.001). Patients with baseline HBsAg <10 IU/ml achieved higher clearance rates [81.82% vs. 73.81% (P=0.144)]. A decline rate of ≥95.8% in HBsAg levels from baseline to week 12 predicted HBsAg clearance at week 24 (AUC ≥0.9, sensitivity 0.765, specificity 0.961). Conclusions: Short-term Peg-IFNα therapy achieved high and comparable HBsAg clearance rates within 24 weeks in NUCs-treated patients and IHCs with ultra-low HBsAg levels.
Keywords: HBV, hepatitis B virus, HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma, CHB, chronic hepatitis B, HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen, NUCs, nucleos(t)ide analogues, Peg-IFNα, pegylated interferon alpha, IHCs, inactive hepatitis B surface antigen carriers
Received: 25 Feb 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Gong, Tan, Wu, Ran, Mao, Deng, Jiang and Xia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Li Jiang, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China
Jie Xia, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China
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