@article {12409,
	title = {Impact of hepatitis B exposure on sustained virological response rates of highly viremic chronic hepatitis C patients.},
	journal = {Gastroenterol Res Pract},
	volume = {2009},
	year = {2009},
	month = {2009},
	pages = {812140},
	abstract = {AIM: To evaluate the impact of hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) seropositivity in sustained virological response (SVR) rates in treatment-na{\"\i}ve, chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients with high pretreatment viral load (>800000 IU/mL).

METHODS: 185 consecutive CHC patients (14.4\% cirrhotics, 70.2\% prior intravenous drug users) treated with pegylated interferon-a2b plus ribavirin, for 24 or 48 weeks based on viral genotype, were retrospectively analyzed. SVR was confirmed by undetectable serum HCV-RNA six months after the end of treatment schedule.

RESULTS: Thirty percent of CHC/HBsAg-negative patients were anti-HBc-positive. Anti-HBc positivity was more prevalent in cirrhotic, compared to noncirrhotic patients (76.9\% versus 19.5\%, P < .05). Serum HBV-DNA was detected in the minority of anti-HBc-positive patients (1.97\%). Overall, 62.1\% of patients exhibited SVR, while 28.6\% did not; 71.4\% of non-SVRs were infected with genotype 1. In the univariate analysis, the anti-HBc positivity was negatively associated with treatment outcome (P = .065). In the multivariate model, only the advanced stage of liver disease (P = .015) and genotype-1 HCV infection (P = .003), but not anti-HBc-status (P = .726), proved to be independent predictors of non-SVR.

CONCLUSION: Serum anti-HBc positivity does not affect the SVR rates in treatment-na{\"\i}ve CHC patients with high pretreatment viral load, receiving the currently approved combination treatment.},
	issn = {1687-630X},
	doi = {10.1155/2009/812140},
	author = {Elefsiniotis, Ioannis S and Pavlidis, Christos and Vezali, Elena and Mariolis-Sapsakos, Theodoros and Koutsounas, Sotirios and Saroglou, George}
}
