{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T12:19:56Z","timestamp":1788265196461,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,16]],"date-time":"2024-01-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1705363200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Among the advantaged population with clinical cure of chronic hepatitis B, chronic inactive hepatitis B virus carriers (IHCs) and nucleoside analog-experienced patients have similar serological manifestations. This study established non-interferon-treated groups as controls to compare the efficacy of pegylated interferon \u03b1-2b (Peg-IFN\u03b1-2b) in achieving clinical cure between IHCs and nucleoside analog (NA)-experienced patients.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 270 patients were enrolled in this observational study. The IHC cohort comprised 55 patients who received Peg-IFN\u03b1-2b (Peg-IFN group), and the other 70 patients did not receive any antiviral treatment (untreated group). Patients treated with NAs were divided into two groups: one group (70 patients) receiving NA add-on Peg-IFN\u03b1-2b therapy regimen (NA add-on Peg-IFN group) and another group (75 patients) receiving continuous NA monotherapy (NA group). The primary endpoints were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) clearance and HBsAg seroconversion at 48 weeks and 72 weeks.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>At 48 weeks, 65.5% (36\/55) and 52.9% (37\/70) patients achieved HBsAg clearance in the Peg-IFN group and NA add-on Peg-IFN group, respectively (p = 0.156). HBsAg seroconversion was achieved in 47.3% (26\/55) of the Peg-IFN group and 34.3% (24\/70) of the NA add-on Peg-IFN group (p = 0.141). At the follow-up of 72 weeks, 36 patients in the Peg-IFN group achieved HBsAg loss (65.5%, 36\/55), and 33 patients in the NA add-on Peg-IFN group achieved HBsAg clearance (47.1%, 33\/70), which were significantly higher than in the Peg-IFN group (p = 0.041). The HBsAg seroconversion rates in the Peg-IFN group and NA add-on Peg-IFN group at 72 weeks were 45.5% (25\/55) and 32.9% (23\/70), respectively (p = 0.151). No patient achieved HBsAg clearance or seroconversion in the NA group and untreated group. Furthermore, the receiver operating characteristic curve showed baseline HBsAg&amp;lt; 72 IU\/mL, and the decline of HBsAg of more than 80% and 98% from baseline to 12 and 24 weeks provided good predictions for HBsAg clearance. Meanwhile, 77% of patients with baseline HBsAg&amp;lt; 100 IU\/mL achieved a clinical cure at 48 weeks.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Peg-IFN\u03b1-2b results in a high rate of HBsAg clearance and seroconversion in both IHCs and NA-experienced patients, especially for those patients who have HBsAg below 100 IU\/mL.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2023.1332232","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,16]],"date-time":"2024-01-16T04:40:37Z","timestamp":1705380037000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Clinical cure induced by pegylated interferon \u03b1-2b in the advantaged population of chronic hepatitis B virus infection: a retrospective cohort study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Chaojing","family":"Wen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yixuan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haoyue","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Lei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiyi","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dachuan","family":"Cai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhi","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaofeng","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1953","DOI":"10.1002\/jmv.24534","article-title":"Sequential therapy with entecavir and pegylated interferon in a cohort of young patients affected by chronic hepatitis B","volume":"88","author":"Boglione","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. 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