AASLD 2014: Pegylated Interferon + Tenofovir Improves Odds of HBsAg Loss in Hepatitis B Patients

People with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are more likely to experience favorable treatment response, as indicated by hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss, if they add pegylated interferon to tenofovir -- although even then the cure rate falls short of 10%, researchers reported at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Liver Meeting this week in Boston.

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HIV Controllers Respond Better to Hepatitis B Vaccine

HIV positive natural controllers who maintain undetectable or low viral load without antiretroviral therapy (ART) are more likely to achieve adequate response to hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination and have improved survival, according to a study published in the August 21 edition of the open-access journal PLoS ONE.

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AASLD 2014: Hepatitis B Testing and Treatment Rates Are Low Among U.S. Veterans

Only 15% of U.S. veterans have been tested for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and among those who tested HBsAg positive just one-quarter received antiviral treatment and 13% were screened for liver cancer -- although both measures were shown to reduce the risk of death -- researchers reported Sunday at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Liver Meeting in Boston.

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Novel Lab Technique May Aid Study of New Hepatitis B Treatments

A laboratory model of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) lifecycle using a stem cell technique that maintains the virus in liver cells may help researchers d

evelop new treatments for the disease, according to a report in the August 4 advance edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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AASLD Liver Meeting Starts this Weekend in Boston

The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) annual Liver Meeting gets underway this weekend, running through November 11 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Once again, this year's meeting will highlight interferon-free direct-acting antiviral regimens for hepatitis C.

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HBV Rebounds After Stopping Entecavir, Switching to Interferon May Help

Most hepatitis B "e" antigen (HBeAg) negative chronic hepatitis B patients relapsed after stopping treatment with the antiviral drug entecavir (Baraclude), according to a report in the May 15 online edition of Gut. A related study found that switching from entecavir to pegylated interferon increased the likelihood of HBeAg seroconversion and hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg) lossin HBeAg positive patients.

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IDWeek 2014: Hepatitis B Relapse Is Common After Stopping Antiviral Therapy

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) rebounded in nearly 80% of people treated with fully or partially suppressive antiviral therapy using adefovir (Hepsera), entecavir (Baraclude), lamivudine (Epivir), or tenofovir (Viread), indicating that long-term therapy is usually needed to control the virus, researchers reported at IDWeek 2014 last month in Philadelphia.

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Everolimus Did Not Improve Survival for Advanced Liver Cancer Patients

The mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinator) failed to increase overall survival for people with advanced hepatocellular carccinoma (HCC) who were previously unsuccessfully treated with sorafenib, according to results from the EVOLVE-1 trial published in the July 2 edition of JAMA.

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