Gut and Liver  2011;5(3):278-287

Current Nucleos(t)ide Analogue Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis B.

Soon Sun KIM 1 ; Jae Youn CHEONG ; Sung Won CHO

Affiliations

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Keywords

Chronic hepatitis B; Nucleos(t)ide analogue; Drug resistance; Hepatitis B virus

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

Abstract

Although the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B has decreased considerably in recent years due to widespread use of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine, its prevalence still remains high in adults, and this can place a significant burden on health care in areas with endemic HBV. Since the introduction of nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs), there has been marked improvement in the care of patients with chronic hepatitis B, resulting in increased survival. However, the emergence of drug resistance in patients treated with NUCs is a major concern. The number of multi-drug resistant patients is increasing, and many patients may not respond to the currently available drugs. In this review, we describe the current status of NUC therapy for antiviral-naive and -resistant patients.