Abstract
BACKGROUND: Lamivudine is a non-toxic, potent inhibitor of hepatitis B virus replication. Recently, hepatitis B virus resistance to lamivudine has been described in patients using immunosuppressive drugs after liver transplantation.
METHODS: From our cohort of 81 consecutive patients treated with lamivudine, we selected all immunocompetent patients who received lamivudine monotherapy for a period over 26 weeks (n=14).
RESULTS: Lamivudine resistance with the characteristic mutation in the YMDD motif was observed in four patients (actuarial cumulative incidence: 39%). Two patterns of viral resistance were observed: incomplete response (n=2) and viral breakthrough (n=2).
CONCLUSIONS: The observed high frequency of lamivudine resistance may have implications for the concept of long-term virus-suppressive therapy of chronic hepatitis B by lamivudine monotherapy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1393-5 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Journal of Hepatology |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul-1997 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Adolescent
- Adult
- DNA Primers
- Drug Resistance, Microbial
- Genome, Viral
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis B virus
- Humans
- Immunocompetence
- Lamivudine
- Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors