{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T23:24:39Z","timestamp":1790033079882,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,8]],"date-time":"2024-08-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1723075200000},"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 and aims<\/jats:title><jats:p>Limited data have been reported on achieving functional cure using pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) alpha-2b treatment for postpartum hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative women with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. This study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of Peg-IFN alpha-2b in HBV postpartum women without HBeAg and identify factors linked to the functional cure.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 150 HBeAg-negative postpartum women were retrospectively recruited.47 patients received Peg-IFN alpha-2b [Peg-IFN(+) group] and 103 patients did not [Peg-IFN(-) group]. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to adjust the baseline imbalance between the two groups. The patients were followed for at least 48 weeks. The primary endpoints were hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg) loss and HBsAg seroconversion at 48 weeks. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with HBsAg loss at 48 weeks.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>At week 48,the HBsAg loss and seroconversion rate in Peg-IFN(+) group were 51.06%(24\/47) and 40.43%(19\/47), respectively. Even after PSM, Peg-IFN(+) group still showed higher HBsAg loss rate (50.00% vs 7.14%,p&amp;lt;0.001) and higher HBsAg seroconversion rate (38.10% vs 2.38%,p&amp;lt;0.001). Baseline HBsAg levels (Odds Ratio [OR]: 0.051, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.003-0.273, P=0.010), HBsAg at week 24 (OR:0.214, 95%CI:0.033-0.616, P=0.022), HBsAg decline at week 24 (OR:4.682, 95%CI: 1.624-30.198, P=0.022) and postpartum flare (OR:21.181, 95%CI:1.872-633.801, P=0.030) were significantly associated with HBsAg loss at week 48 after Peg-IFN alpha-2b therapy. Furthermore, the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) showed that the use of baseline HBsAg&amp;lt;182 IU\/mL, HBsAg at week24 &amp;lt; 4 IU\/mL and HBsAg decline at week24&amp;gt;12IU\/mL were good predictors of HBsAg loss. No serious adverse events were reported.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Peg-IFN alpha-2b treatment could achieve a high rate of HBsAg loss and seroconversion in HBeAg-negative postpartum women with reliable safety, particularly for patients experience postpartum flare and have low baseline HBsAg levels.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2024.1426960","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,8]],"date-time":"2024-08-08T05:10:26Z","timestamp":1723093826000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["A high functional cure rate was induced by pegylated interferon alpha-2b treatment in postpartum hepatitis B e antigen-negative women with chronic hepatitis B virus infection: an exploratory study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Wenting","family":"Zhong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lanzhi","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yage","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lei","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingli","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tianyan","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jie","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"529","DOI":"10.1172\/JCI58847","article-title":"IFN-\u03b1 inhibits HBV transcription and replication in cell culture and in humanized mice by targeting the epigenetic regulation of the nuclear cccDNA minichromosome","volume":"122","author":"Belloni","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. 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