Early Hepatitis B e Antigen Seroconversion after Lamivudine Therapy in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effect of Lamivudine and herbal compound Wulinwan to chronic hepatitis B. Methods: A one-year trail of Lamivudine combined 3 months therapy of herbal compound Wulinwan was be done for 25 adult patients with chronic hepatitis B. Routine laboratory tests taken on each clinic visit included serum transami-nase ,HBeAg,anti-HBe and HBV DNA. These patients were followed up for six months after the end of therapy. Results: During the trament, 12 patients (48%) had HBeAg/anti-HBe seroconversion and among them there were 10 patients lost HBeAg within first 3 months therapy and developed anti-HBe. and then there were 8 patient lost anti-HBe gradually within 2-4 weeks. Serum ALT level also fell during first 3 months,generally following the decrement of HBV DNA level. Conclusion: The results suggested that first three months is the critical phase for early seroconversion of HBeAg in Lamivudine therapy. This maybe due to the quasispecies of the HBV that specially sensitive to Lamivudine.