Extended peginterferon therapy yields durable virologic suppression in hepatitis D

Long-term use of peginterferon therapy appears to induce sustained virologic response in about half of patients with hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection, along with functional cure in some patients, as reported in a study.

The study included 12 patients with chronic HDV who received more than 6 months of peginterferon in the original study. Virological response (defined as loss of detectable serum HDV RNA) was evaluated at last follow-up. Additionally, survival and liver-related events were documented over extended follow-up.

Most of the patients were male (92 percent) and White (83 percent), with age ranging from 18 to 58 (mean 42.6) years. At baseline, the majority of the population also had advanced but compensated liver disease. The median hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level was 536 IU per mL, while the median HDV RNA level was 6.86 log10 genome equivalents per mL.

Treatment with peginterferon lasted an average of 6.1 years (range, 0.8–14.3), with a total follow-up of 8.8 years (range, 1.7–17.6). Seven (58 percent) patients achieved durable undetectable HDV RNA in serum at last follow-up, while four (33 percent) cleared hepatitis B surface antigen.

One out of the seven responders died or had a liver-related event as opposed to four out of five nonresponders (14 percent vs 80 percent).