Small Study Finds Psoriasis Treatment May Not Reactivate Hepatitis B


— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate

A small study of 20 patients treated with an immune-suppressing drug finds the treatment did not reactivate the liver infection in the patients who had been infected with HBV but had cleared HBsAg, but not developed surface antibodies.

On average, about 5% of people who have had hepatitis B will experience a return of infection (including increased viral load or rising ALT levels) after treatment with a drug that suppresses the immune system.

In this study, after 40 months of treatment with a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (which suppresses the immune system to stop skin inflammation), none of the 20 patients had signs of a reactivated infection.

"Combining our data with data from other studies of psoriasis patients with a past history of HBV infection who were treated..., we calculated a maximum estimated risk of HBV reactivation for a mean follow-up period of 30 months of 2.7 reactivations per 100 patients," they wrote in the March issue of the Spanish medical journal Actas Dermo-sifiliografucas.

While treatment appeared not to reactivate HBV infection among their study participants, researchers cautioned that it was still important to screen patients for their hepatitis B status and viral load before starting treatment.
 
Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25776200

http://www.hbvadvocate.org/news/HBJ12.4.htm


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