Abstract
We would like to thank Drs. Debnath and Rathi for their interest in our recent article. In our study, we used data from a multicenter multiethnic cohort to identify predictors of virologic response (VR), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss, and alanine aminotransferase flares after nucleo(s)tide analogue withdrawal. As also highlighted by Drs Debnath and Rathi, lower levels of hepatitis B core antigen (HBcrAg) and HBsAg were associated with favorable off-treatment outcomes (ie, higher rates of VR and HBsAg loss, and lower rates of alanine aminotransferase flares). Although the observed associations were robust in subgroup analysis, it should be appreciated that neither HBcrAg nor HBsAg levels were a perfect predictor of off-treatment outcomes; patients with low viral antigen levels had higher chances favorable outcomes, but only a limited subset of patients complied with these criteria. [...]
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2681-2682 |
Number of pages | 2 |
Journal | Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | 15 Jan 2021 |
DOIs |
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Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding The original study was supported by Fujirebio . Materials for hepatitis B core antigen testing was provided free of charge to several participating centers. Fujirebio had no influence on study design, data collection, data analysis, writing of the manuscript, or the decisions to submit for publication.