OBJECTIVETo investigate the impact of hepatic steatosis on virologic response to treatment with pegylated interferon-alpha-2a (PEG-IFNα-2a) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed 50 biopsy-proven cases of CHB in patients who had been administered a 48-week course of PEG-IFNα-2a in our hospital between 2005 and 2009. The patients were stratified according to presence of steatosis confirmed by pathological findings, with 28 in the non-steatosis group and 22 in the steatosis grouP(21 with mild steatosis,and 1 with moderate steatosis).

RESULTSfrom blood routine test,hepatic and renal function tests, fasting blood glucose test, thyroid function test and blood lipid test were collected for analysis, as were results from hepatitis B viral load test and detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers and autoantibodies. The efficacy of antiviral treatment and side effects were compared between the stratified groups by statistically comparing the results from before and after the 48 weeks of treatment.

RESULTSAt the end of treatment, the non-steatosis group had 42.9% of patients with undetectable HBV-DNA ( less than 500 copies/ml), a hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion rate of 31.6% and a complete response rate of 39.3%. The steatosis group had a lower rate of patients with undetectable HBV-DNA (40.9%) and higher rates of HBeAg seroconversion (33.3%) and complete response (40.9%), but none of the differences reached the threshold for statistical significance (x2=0.012, 0.019, 0.014 and P=0.560,0.600,0.568 respectively). Both groups showed significant increases in triglyceride levels after treatment (steatosis group:t =-2.164, P=0.040; non-steatosis group:t =-2.863, P=0.009), and there was a significant difference between the two groups (t=2.41, P=0.020).

CONCLUSIONOur study did not show that mild hepatic steatosis affected the efficiency of a 48-week course of PEG-IFNα-2a treatment for patients with CHB.