{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.05090311986863711, 'fraction_numerical': 0.027914614121510674, 'mean_word_length': 4.696261682242991, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 1, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Long-Term Outcome of Sequential Therapy with Lamivudine Followed by Interferon-β in Nucleoside-Naive, Hepatitis B e-Antigen-Positive Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Genotype C Infection

It is unclear whether the combination of a nucleos(t)ide analog and interferon (IFN) is superior to monotherapy for treating chronic hepatitis B. In this study, we report the long-term outcomes of sequential therapy using lamivudine followed by IFN-β. This study included 24 hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C infection who were treated with lamivudine alone for 16–32 weeks, then with both IFN-β and lamivudine for 4 weeks, and finally with IFN-β alone for 20 weeks. All patients were followed up for 7.1±2.8 years post-treatment. The rate of response, defined as transaminase normalization, HBeAg loss, and HBV DNA <104 copies/mL, was 5/24 (21%) at 24 weeks post-treatment. The patients with short-term responses were younger than those with no response (P=0.039). More short-term responders had undetectable HBV DNA at the start of IFN-β compared with the nonresponders (P=0.0059). Subsequently, 4 of the 5 short-term responders remained free of the need f...