Seng Gee Lim

Prophylactic lamivudine prevents hepatitis B reactivation in chemotherapy patients

Background : Chronic hepatitis B virus carriers receiving chemotherapy develop a high hepatitis B virus reactivation rate (38–53%) with a high mortality (37–60%). Few studies have characterized the efficacy of lamivudine in the treatment of chemotherapy‐induced hepatitis B virus reactivation.

Treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus infection in resource-constrained settings: expert panel consensus.

Most of the estimated 350 million people with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection live in resource‐constrained settings. Up to 25% of those persons will die prematurely of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or cirrhosis. Universal hepatitis B immunization programmes that target infants will have an impact on HBV‐related deaths several decades after their introduction. Antiviral agents active against HBV are available; treatment of HBV infection in those who need it has been shown to reduce the risk of HCC and death. It is estimated that 20–30% of persons with HBV infection could benefit from treatment. However, drugs active against HBV are not widely available or utilized in persons infected with HBV. Currently recommended antiviral agents used for treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection do not adequately suppress HBV, which is of great concern for the estimated 10% of the HIV‐infected persons in Africa who are co‐infected with HBV. Progressive liver disease has been shown to occur in co‐infected persons whose HBV infection is not suppressed. In view of these concerns, an informal World Health Organization consultation of experts concluded that: chronic HBV is a major public health problem in emerging nations; all HIV‐infected persons should be screened for HBV infection; HIV/HBV co‐infected persons should be treated with therapies active against both viruses and that reduce the risk of resistance; standards for the management of chronic HBV infection should be adapted to resource‐constrained settings. In addition, a research agendum was developed focusing on issues related to prevention and treatment of chronic HBV in resource‐constrained settings.

Intragastric balloon significantly improves nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity score in obese patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: a pilot study

BACKGROUND There is no satisfactory treatment for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The Bioenterics intragastric balloon (BIB) can be an effective treatment for weight reduction in obese patients. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the efficacy of the BIB in improving the histology of NASH in obese patients. DESIGN Randomized, controlled study. SETTING University hospital. PATIENTS Obese patients with body mass indexes (BMI) ≥27 kg/m(2) and who had histologic evidence of NASH were recruited. INTERVENTION Patients were randomly assigned to a step 1 American Heart Association (AHA) diet plus exercise and BIB placement or step 1 AHA diet plus exercise and sham BIB placement for a period of 6 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS Liver histology was the primary outcome measure recorded before and after treatment. RESULTS A total of 18 patients completed the study. Baseline characteristics of the BIB and sham groups were similar. At 6 months, a significant reduction in the mean BMI was seen in the BIB group (1.52 vs 0.8; P = .0008). The median nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity scores at the end of treatment were significantly lower in the BIB-treated compared with the sham-treated groups (2 [0.75] vs 4 [2.25]; P = .03). There was a trend toward improvement in the median steatosis scores (1 [0.75] vs 1 [1]; P = .075). There was no change in the median loblular inflammation, hepatocellular ballooning, or fibrosis scores in both groups after treatment. LIMITATIONS Pilot study with small numbers and short duration. CONCLUSION Results from this pilot study demonstrated that addition of BIB for 6 months provided a greater loss of BMI and improvement in 2 of 5 histologic parameters of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. A longer study with larger numbers will be required to prove whether or not the therapy is meaningful in the treatment of NASH.

Chronic hepatitis B: whom to treat and for how long? Propositions, challenges, and future directions

Recent guidelines of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the European Association for the Study of the Liver, and the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver 2008 update of the “Asian-Pacific consensus statement on the management of chronic hepatitis B” offer comprehensive recommendations for the general management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). These recommendations highlight preferred approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of CHB. Nonetheless, the results of recent studies have led to an improved understanding of the disease and a belief that current recommendations on specific therapeutic considerations, including CHB treatment initiation and cessation criteria, particularly in patient populations with special circumstances, can be improved. Twelve experts from the Asia-Pacific region formed the Asia-Pacific Panel Recommendations for the Optimal Management of Chronic Hepatitis B (APPROACH) Working Group to review, challenge, and assess relevant new data and inform future updates of CHB treatment guidelines. The significance of and controversy about reported findings were discussed and debated in an expert meeting of the Working Group in Beijing, China, in November 2008. This review paper attempts to identify areas requiring improved CHB management and provide suggestions for future guideline updates, with special emphasis on treatment initiation and duration.

Managing HBV in pregnancy. Prevention, prophylaxis, treatment and follow-up: position paper produced by Australian, UK and New Zealand key opinion leaders

Hepatitis B during pregnancy presents unique management issues for both the mother and fetus. These include the lack of a current cohesive strategy for treatment and follow-up of mothers and their babies; the uncertain risk of postpartum HBV flares; the lack of randomised trial data on the safety and efficacy of antiviral treatment in pregnancy; the lack of head-to-head studies comparing different antivirals in pregnancy; and the lack of epidemiologic information regarding infection across different populations globally. This position paper provides a comprehensive review of the management of women with HBV infection prior to conception, throughout each stage of pregnancy and postpartum, as well as recommendations and clinical approaches for the follow-up of children born to infected mothers, based on available evidence in the literature and recommendations from international experts. Prevention of perinatal transmission is an important component of global efforts to reduce the burden of chronic HBV since vertical transmission is responsible for most of the chronic infection worldwide.

Predictors of response to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate plus peginterferon alfa-2a combination therapy for chronic hepatitis B

In patients with chronic hepatitis B, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) plus pegylated interferon (PEG‐IFN) for 48‐weeks results in higher rates of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss than either monotherapy.

Palliation of malignant gastric outlet obstruction caused by gastric cancer with self-expandable metal stents.

Gastric carcinoma is among the most common cancers worldwide. Surgery remains the mainstay of potentially curative treatments. Unfortunately, most patients have an advanced form of the disease. We evaluated our experience in palliating malignant gastric outlet obstruction caused by gastric cancer with expandable metal stents (Wallstent Enteral; Boston Scientific, Singapore). Six patients with a median age of 68 years (range, 45–88) underwent the procedure. Three had metastatic gastric cancer; two recurrent gastric cancer; and one locally advanced gastric cancer with poor comorbid status. After the procedure, five of the six patients were able to resume an oral feeding within 24 hours. One patient with gastric dysmotility caused by linitus plastica required nasogastric tube feeding. Three patients died during a median follow-up period of 4 weeks (range, 2–8). The other three patients were still well at a median follow-up period of 10 weeks (range, 5–12). There was no procedure-related mortality or morbidity, nor was there any stent migration or blockage in any of these patients. In conclusion, palliation of malignant gastric outlet strictures caused by gastric cancer with expandable metal stents is an effective and safe alternative to surgery, particularly in patients with postgastrectomy anastomotic recurrence and in those who are poor candidates for surgery. Patients who are not expected to survive beyond 1 month and those with linitus plastica and associated gastric dysmotility may not be appropriate candidates for such a procedure.

Development of a new patient-derived xenograft humanised mouse model to study human-specific tumour microenvironment and immunotherapy

Objective As the current therapeutic strategies for human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been proven to have limited effectiveness, immunotherapy becomes a compelling way to tackle the disease. We aim to provide humanised mouse (humice) models for the understanding of the interaction between human cancer and immune system, particularly for human-specific drug testing. Design Patient-derived xenograft tumours are established with type I human leucocyte antigen matched human immune system in NOD-scid Il2rg−/− (NSG) mice. The longitudinal changes of the tumour and immune responses as well as the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors are investigated. Results Similar to the clinical outcomes, the human immune system in our model is educated by the tumour and exhibits exhaustion phenotypes such as a significant declination of leucocyte numbers, upregulation of exhaustion markers and decreased the production of human proinflammatory cytokines. Notably, cytotoxic immune cells decreased more rapidly compared with other cell types. Tumour infiltrated T cells have much higher expression of exhaustion markers and lower cytokine production compared with peripheral T cells. In addition, tumour-associated macrophages and myeloid-derived suppressor cells are found to be highly enriched in the tumour microenvironment. Interestingly, the tumour also changes gene expression profiles in response to immune responses by upregulating immune checkpoint ligands. Most importantly, in contrast to the NSG model, our model demonstrates both therapeutic and side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors pembrolizumab and ipilimumab. Conclusions Our work provides a model for immune-oncology study and a useful parallel-to-human platform for anti-HCC drug testing, especially immunotherapy.

Cost-effectiveness of strategy-based approach to treatment of genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C

The high cost of chronic hepatitis C (HCV) direct‐acting antivirals (DAAs) poses significant financial challenges for health payers, especially in Asia. A personalized treatment strategy based on individualized probability of virological response using oral DAAs as second‐line therapy would seem practical but has not been studied.

Ethics and hepatitis B cure research

Recent scientific advances, including the development of curative therapies for HCV and the establishment of global cure initiatives for HIV, have led to international calls seeking a cure for chronic infection with HBV.1 ,2 Over 240 million people live with chronic HBV, resulting in up to 780 000 deaths annually due to hepatic fibrosis/cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).3 ,4 Persons chronically infected with HBV who do not receive treatment have a lifelong risk of developing HCC, the third most common cause of disease globally.5–7 Along with scaled-up approaches to preventing and treating chronic HBV infection, having a safe and effective cure for HBV infection promises to minimise the global burden of HBV-related morbidity and mortality and reduce the economic and other burdens of lifelong treatment. Nevertheless, as HBV cure research proceeds, it is critical to anticipate and address the associated ethical issues to best protect the rights, interests and welfare of those who participate in the research as well as those who are or will become chronically infected with HBV. In this paper, after describing briefly the rationale for work aimed at achieving HBV cure, we delineate some of the key ethical issues that are especially salient for HBV cure research: (1) risks of interventions; (2) outcome measures, monitoring and modelling; (3) selection of study population; (4) language and consent; and (5) fairness. HBV infects hepatocytes and can establish a long-lived persistent reservoir through unintegrated covalently closed circular (ccc)DNA (and to a lesser extent integrated HBV DNA) that can continually produce HBV DNA and viral proteins, particularly hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg).8 Following the administration of nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitors or interferon α, the main strategies for treating chronic HBV infection,9 ,10 HBV DNA declines to often undetectable levels and liver inflammation improves, …