Objective: To study the effects of genotypes of HBV and HBeAg on the response to PEG-interferon alpha (PEG-IFN) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.
Methods: PCR-RFLP and S gene sequencing were conducted in 42 CHB patients.
Results: The sustained response (SR) rates were 66.7% in genotype B and 27.3% in genotype C group. The P value was 0.039 by the Pearson Chi-square test, while it was 0.06 by the Fisher's exact test. The results suggested a trend that patients with genotype B HBV compared to genotype C had better SR to PEG-IFN therapy, although the difference was not significant. Results also showed that SR rate in patients with HBeAg-negative CHB (7/8 87.5%) was significantly higher than that in HBe+ CHB patients (8/21 38.1%, P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Our results indicate that HBV genotype and HBeAg, especially the later, are main factors for predicting PEG-IFN therapy response in CHB patients.