Gastroenterology Research and Practice
Volume 2009 (2009), Article ID 812140, 5 pages
doi:10.1155/2009/812140
Research Article

Impact of Hepatitis B Exposure on Sustained Virological Response Rates of Highly Viremic Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

1University Department of Internal Medicine, Hepatology Unit, “Elena Venizelou” Hospital, 11521 Athens, Greece
2Carchidonos 9, A. Glyfada, 16562, Greece
3Reference Center for Viral Hepatitis, I.K.A, Athens, Greece

Received 2 October 2008; Accepted 9 February 2009

Academic Editor: Vasundhara Tolia

Copyright © 2009 Ioannis S. Elefsiniotis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Linked References

  1. J. G. McHutchison, S. C. Gordon, E. R. Schiff, et al., “Interferon alpha-2b alone or in combination with ribavirin as initial treatment for chronic hepatitis C. Hepatitis Interventional Therapy Group,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 339, no. 21, pp. 1485–1492, 1998. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  2. M. Y. Lai, J. H. Kao, P. M. Yang, et al., “Long-term efficacy of ribavirin plus interferon alpha in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C,” Gastroenterology, vol. 111, no. 5, pp. 1307–1312, 1996. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  3. National Institutes of Health, “NIH consensus statement on management of hepatitis C: 2002,” NIH Consensus and State-of-the-Science Statements, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 1–46, 2002.
  4. S. J. Hadziyannis, H. Sette, Jr., T. R. Morgan, et al., “Peginterferon-α2a and ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C: a randomized study of treatment duration and ribavirin dose,” Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 140, no. 5, pp. 346–355, 2004.
  5. M. P. Manns, J. G. McHutchison, S. C. Gordon, et al., “Peginterferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin compared with interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin for initial treatment of chronic hepatitis C: a randomised trial,” The Lancet, vol. 358, no. 9286, pp. 958–965, 2001. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  6. M. W. Fried, M. L. Shiffman, K. R. Reddy, et al., “Peginterferon alpha-2a plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C virus infection,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 347, no. 13, pp. 975–982, 2002. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  7. E. J. Heathcote, M. L. Shiffman, W. G. E. Cooksley, et al., “Peginterferon alpha-2a in patients with chronic hepatitis C and cirrhosis,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 343, no. 23, pp. 1673–1680, 2000. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  8. D. Ganem and A. M. Prince, “Hepatitis B virus infection—natural history and clinical consequences,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 350, no. 11, pp. 1118–1129, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  9. I. Chemin and C. Trépo, “Clinical impact of occult HBV infections,” Journal of Clinical Virology, vol. 34, pp. S15–S21, 2005. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  10. C.-K. Hui, E. Lau, H. Wu, et al., “Fibrosis progression in chronic hepatitis C patients with occult hepatitis B co-infection,” Journal of Clinical Virology, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 185–192, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  11. R. Fukuda, N. Ishimura, M. Niigaki, et al., “Serologically silent hepatitis B virus co-infection in patients with hepatitis C virus-associated chronic liver disease: clinical and virological significance,” Journal of Medical Virology, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 201–207, 1999. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  12. F. Vitale, F. Tramuto, A. Orlando, et al., “Can the serological status of “anti-HBc alone” be considered a sentinel marker for detection of “occult” HBV infection?,” Journal of Medical Virology, vol. 80, no. 4, pp. 577–582, 2008. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  13. E. Sagnelli, N. Coppola, C. Scolastico, A. R. Mogavero, P. Filippini, and F. Piccinino, “HCV genotype and “silent” HBV co-infection: two main risk factors for a more severe liver disease,” Journal of Medical Virology, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 350–355, 2001. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  14. I. Cacciola, T. Pollicino, G. Squadrito, G. Cerenzia, M. E. Orlando, and G. Raimondo, “Occult hepatitis B virus infection in patients with chronic hepatitis C liver disease,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 341, no. 1, pp. 22–26, 1999. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  15. P. Fabris, D. Brown, G. Tositti, et al., “Occult hepatitis B virus infection does not affect liver histology or response to therapy with interferon alpha and ribavirin in intravenous drug users with chronic hepatitis C,” Journal of Clinical Virology, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 160–166, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  16. V. Carreño, J. Bartolomé, I. Castillo, and J. A. Quiroga, “Occult hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections,” Reviews in Medical Virology, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 139–157, 2008. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  17. K. Ishak, A. Baptista, L. Bianchi, et al., “Histological grading and staging of chronic hepatitis,” Journal of Hepatology, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 696–699, 1995. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  18. C. Drosten, T. Nippraschk, C. Manegold, et al., “Prevalence of hepatitis B virus DNA in anti-HBc-positive/HBsAg-negative sera correlates with HCV but not HIV serostatus,” Journal of Clinical Virology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 59–68, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  19. B. Weber, W. Melchior, R. Gehrke, H. W. Doerr, A. Berger, and H. Rabenau, “Hepatitis B virus markers in anti-HBc only positive individuals,” Journal of Medical Virology, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 312–319, 2001. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  20. E. Khattab, I. Chemin, I. Vuillermoz, et al., “Analysis of HCV co-infection with occult hepatitis B virus in patients undergoing IFN therapy,” Journal of Clinical Virology, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 150–157, 2005. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  21. I. S. Elefsiniotis, K. D. Pantazis, I. D. Ketikoglou, S. I. Koutsounas, and E. V. Tsianos, “Changing serological status and low vaccination-induced protection rates against hepatitis B characterize chronic hepatitis C virus-infected injecting drug users in Greece: need for immunization policy,” European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, vol. 18, no. 11, pp. 1227–1231, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  22. A. C. Haushofer, R. Hauer, H. Brunner, et al., “No evidence of hepatitis B virus activity in patients with anti-HBc antibody positivity with or without anti-hepatitis C virus antibody positivity,” Journal of Clinical Virology, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 221–223, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  23. E. Giannini, P. Ceppa, F. Botta, et al., “Previous hepatitis B virus infection is associated with worse disease stage and occult hepatitis B virus infection has low prevalence and pathogenicity in hepatitis C virus-positive patients,” Liver International, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 12–18, 2003. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  24. J. G. McHutchison, M. Manns, K. Patel, et al., “Adherence to combination therapy enhances sustained response in genotype-1-infected patients with chronic hepatitis C,” Gastroenterology, vol. 123, no. 4, pp. 1061–1069, 2002. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  25. M. P. Manns, “Adherence to combination therapy: influence on sustained virologic response and economic impact,” Gastroenterology Clinics of North America, vol. 33, no. 1, supplement 1, pp. 11–24, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  26. G. Tarantino, P. Conca, P. Sorrentino, and M. Ariello, “Metabolic factors involved in the therapeutic response of patients with hepatitis C virus-related chronic hepatitis,” Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, vol. 21, no. 8, pp. 1266–1268, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  27. M. Torbenson and D. L. Thomas, “Occult hepatitis B,” Lancet Infectious Diseases, vol. 2, no. 8, pp. 479–486, 2002. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar