Tenofovir-induced Fanconi syndrome in chronic hepatitis B monoinfected patients that reverted after tenofovir withdrawal

Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) is a nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor widely used to treat patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Despite the excellent safety records of this regimen, a few cases of acute renal failure and Fanconi syndrome have been reported among HIV patients exposed to TDF. In the HBV monoinfection scenario, only two cases of TDF-associated Fanconi syndrome have been reported thus far. Here, we describe two additional patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who developed a TDF-induced Fanconi syndrome that reverted after TDF withdrawal and had viral replication fully suppressed upon switching to entecavir (ETV). Though the overall risk of TDF associated severe renal toxicity in HBV patients appears to be negligible, both glomerular and tubular function should be monitored in patients exposed to TDF, especially when other renal risk factors or a history of previous exposure to adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) are present

Serological Tests Do Not Predict Residual Fibrosis in Hepatitis C Cirrhotics with a Sustained Virological Response to Interferon.

BACKGROUND AND AIM:Liver biopsy (LB) has lost popularity to stage liver fibrosis in the era of highly effective anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy, yet diagnosis of persistent cirrhosis may have important implications following HCV eradication. As performance of serological non-invasive tests (NITs) to predict residual fibrosis in non-viremic HCV patients is unknown, we investigated accuracy of NITs to predict residual fibrosis in cirrhotics after a sustained virological response (SVR) to interferon (IFN). METHODS:Thirty-eight patients with a pre-treatment histological diagnosis of cirrhosis and a 48-104 months post-SVR LB were tested with APRI, CDS, FIB-4, FibroQ, Forns Score, GUCI Index, King Score, Lok Index, PLF, ELF. In 23 (61%) patients, cirrhosis had histologically regressed. RESULTS:All NITs values declined after SVR without any significant difference between regressors and non-regressors (AUROC 0.52-0.75). Using viremic cut-offs, PPV ranged from 34% to 100%, with lower NPV (63% - 68%). NITs performance did not improve using derived cut-offs (PPV: 40% - 80%; NPV: 66% - 100%). PLF, which combines several NITs with transient elastography, had the best diagnostic performance (AUROC 0.75, Sn 61%, Sp 90%, PPV 80%, NPV 78%). After treatment, none of the NITs resulted significantly associated with any of the histological features (activity grade, fibrosis stage, area of fibrosis). CONCLUSIONS:The diagnostic estimates obtained using both viremic and derived cut-off values of NITs were suboptimal, indicating that none of these tests helps predicting residual fibrosis and that LB remains the gold standard for this purpose

Hepatitis delta virus and hepatocellular carcinoma: an update

International audienc

Comparative characterization of B cells specific for HBV nucleocapsid and envelope proteins in patients with chronic hepatitis B

10.1016/j.jhep.2019.07.01572134-4

Intrahepatic innate immune response pathways are downregulated in untreated chronic hepatitis B patients

International audienceBACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) persistence and the pathobiology of chronic HBV (CHB) infections result from the interplay between viral replication and host immune responses. We aimed to comprehensively analyse the expression of intrahepatic host genes as well as serum and liver HBV markers in a large cohort of untreated CHB patients. METHODS: One-hundred and five CHB patients untreated at the time of liver biopsy (34 HBeAg[+] and 71 HBeAg[-]) were analysed for the intrahepatic expression profile of 67 genes belonging to multiple innate immunity pathways. Results were correlated to serological (quantification of HBsAg [qHBsAg] and HBV DNA) and intrahepatic viral markers (total HBV DNA, pre-genomic RNA and covalently closed circular HBV DNA). RESULTS: Intrahepatic gene expression profiling revealed a strong downregulation of antiviral effectors, interferon stimulated genes, Toll-like and pathogen recognition receptor pathways in CHB patients as compared to non-infected controls, which was not directly correlated to HBV replication. A subset of genes [CXCL10, GBP1, IFITM1, IFNB1, IL10, IL6, ISG15, TLR3, SOCS1, SOCS3] was more repressed in HBeAg(-) respect to HBeAg(+) patients (median of serum HBV DNA 7.9x103vs. 7.9x107IU/ml, respectively). Notably, HBeAg(-) patients with lower qHBsAg (\textless5x103IU/ml) showed a relief of repression of genes belonging to multiple pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show a strong impairment of innate immune responses in the liver of CHB patients. The association of low levels of qHBsAg with gene repression, if confirmed, might prove useful for the identification of patients who would most benefit from immune-modulators and/or HBsAg targeting agents as strategies to restore immune responsiveness. LAY SUMMARY: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections represent a major public health problem worldwide. Over 200 million people are chronically infected and at risk of developing chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and cancer. Our work aimed to understand the molecular consequences of chronic hepatitis B in the infected liver. It was conducted in a large cohort of untreated chronically infected HBV patients and analysed the expression of immunity and liver disease-related genes in the liver, with respect to markers of viral replication and persistence. Our results indicate that chronic HBV infection has a suppressive effect on immune responses, which was more pronounced with high levels of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg). These data provide novel insight into the mechanisms of HBV persistence in the liver and suggest that approaches aimed at reducing HBsAg levels, may restore immune responsiveness against the viru