Additional biomarker other than HBsAg is required to determine Hepatitis
B virus (HBV) functional cure in HIV/HBV coinfection
Abstract
Among 1550 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/Hepatitis B virus (HBV)
coinfected individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) over three
years in Guangzhou, China, individuals (8.2%) achieved HBsAg loss.
HBsAg loss was positively associated with a longer treatment (median
6.57 years) and a lower HBsAg level (median 645.2 COI) at the baseline.
However, HBV pre-genomic RNA (pgRNA), a promising viral biomarker for
asserting HBV functional cure, was still detected in 43.9% (44/98) of
them, implying an active HBV replication in the HBsAg loss individuals.
Our observation suggested that HBsAg loss alone could not reliably
predict HBV functional cure in HIV/HBV coinfection.