Background: To evaluate the efficacy of alpha-2b interferon alone or combined with alpha1-thymosin in treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) resistant to lamivudine.
Methods: Sixty six patients with CHB resistant to lamivudine were enrolled and randomized into treatment group A, treatment group B and control group. In the treatment group A 26 cases, after giving interferon-alpha alone for 1 month, lamivudine was withdrawn and continuously treated with interferon-alpha for 5 months. In the treatment group B 10 cases, after treatment with interferon-alpha and thymosin-alpha1 for 1 month, lamivudine was withdrawn and continuously treated with interferon-alpha and thymosin-alpha1 for 5 months. In control group (30 cases), after lamivudine was directly withdrawn, no anti-virus drug was given. Hepatic function tests and serum virological index were detected at regular intervals in all patients.
Results: Normalization rate of hepatic function, HBV DNA seroconversion rate and HBeAg/HBeAb seroconversion rate in two treatment groups were significantly higher than those in control group.
Conclusion: The study suggested that interferon-alpha alone or combined with thymosin-alpha1 in treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B resistant to lamivudine showed a beneficial effect.