Abstract
A 21 year-old male patient with chronic hepatitis B was treated with lamivudine 150 mg daily after withdrawal of a short course of oral prednisolone (30 mg daily for 3 weeks, 15 mg daily for 1 week). Serum hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA increased during prednisolone pretherapy and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was increasing after withdrawal of prednisolone. Clearance of HBV-DNA with hepatitis B e antigen seroconversion and ALT normalization occurred within 2 months after starting lamivudine therapy. If this dramatic response to lamivudine therapy after corticosteroid priming is confirmed by further studies, the regimens used in this particular case might become a powerful therapeutic tool for chronic HBV infection.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 804-806 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (Australia) |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1999 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Chronic hepatitis B
- Corticosteroid priming
- Hepatitis B virus
- Immunomodulation
- Lamivudine
