Hepatitis B virus

Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer undergoing treatment with an EGFR–tyrosine kinase inhibitor may have a clinically meaningful risk for reactivation of unresolved hepatitis B virus infection during treatment, study findings indicate.

The prevalence of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection in patients with newly diagnosed cancer is similar to that of the US population, but a “substantial proportion” of patients are unaware of their infection, research shows.

Patients who receive antiviral therapy for more than 90 days prior to hepatectomy for hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma have a reduced risk for microvascular invasion and early tumor recurrence, Chinese research shows.

Researchers have developed and validated a score for predicting the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma in Asian patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection who are taking oral antiviral therapy.

Two meta-analyses published in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis confirm that patients with hepatitis B virus infection remain at risk for hepatocellular carcinoma even after achieving positive virologic outcomes, and identify factors associated with the risk.

More than 290 million people, or 3.9% of the global population, are infected with hepatitis B virus, and while efforts to combat infection are improving, greater access to diagnosis and treatment is needed to meet global targets, report The Polaris Observatory Collaborators.

The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases has issued a guidance statement for chronic hepatitis B virus, covering topics ranging from screening and prevention through to the clinical management of patients.

Hepatitis B surface antigen levels at the end of treatment or prophylaxis with nucleos(t)ide analog inhibitors could be a useful indicator of hepatitis B virus relapse, suggest two Taiwanese studies.

Caucasian patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection who receive long-term therapy with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate or entecavir have “excellent” survival, which is comparable to that of the general population, say researchers.

The American College of Physicians and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released best practice guidance for hepatitis B virus vaccination, screening, and linkage to care.

Diabetes remains an independent risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection even after hepatitis B surface antigen seroclearance, findings indicate.

Japanese researchers have generated a nationwide estimate of total numbers of hepatitis B virus carriers and treated patients in 2011, comparing it with earlier estimates from 2000.

The noninvasive fibrosis-4 index can further refine the existing favorable clinical profile for hepatocellular carcinoma risk in noncirrhotic patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection and help identify those with the lowest risk, say researchers.

Serum hepatitis B virus RNA levels correlate with viral transcriptional activity and histologic changes in the livers of patients with chronic HBV who are receiving nucleos(t)ide analog therapy, Chinese researchers report.

Clearance of hepatitis B surface antigen with nucleos(t)ide analogs is as durable as spontaneous clearance in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection, researchers report.

Hepatitis B virus infection is the leading cause of incident primary liver cancer and associated mortality worldwide, according to research published in JAMA Oncology.

Most patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection initially classed as partial responders to treatment with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate achieve a virologic response without additional treatment adjustment, research suggests.

Being in the immune tolerant phase of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is no assurance against the risk for developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), requiring liver transplantation, or dying, say South Korean investigators.

A panel of hepatitis B virus experts has issued a consensus statement intended to aid in standardizing the efficacy and safety appraisals of novel, potentially curative antiviral and immune modulatory agents.

Two research groups have developed noninvasive indices to detect significant fibrosis in treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection, one using serum levels of Golgi protein 73 and liver stiffness, and the other based on the ratio of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase to albumin.