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INTRODUCTION<br />
Viral dynamics during tenofovir therapy 193<br />
Treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with standard interferon-α produces a<br />
durable response in one-fi fth to one-third of patients but has undesirable side-effects<br />
and must be administered subcutaneously three times per week. 1–3 Although lamivu-<br />
dine treatment also produces a modest response rate with few side-effects, prolonged<br />
treatment is often necessary to prevent relapse on cessation of therapy, and continuous<br />
treatment can lead to the development of lamivudine resistance. 4–5 Phenotypic lamivudine<br />
resistance, with the emergence of YMDD drug-resistant mutants in the polymerase<br />
gene of the HBV, leads to an increase in serum HBV-DNA levels. This suggests that<br />
there is a clinical need for new antiviral agents that adequately inhibit DNA-polymerase<br />
activity, both in wild type and in mutant virus populations.<br />
The search for drug-resistant mutants is usually initiated after an increase in serum HBV-<br />
DNA load has been observed. 6 Studies have shown that the lamivudine mutations are<br />
localized in two major domains of the reverse transcriptase (RT) region of the polymerase<br />
gene. 7–8 Analyses of the YMDD region of the C-domain of the polymerase gene have<br />
shown that, in the case of resistance, methionine (rtM204) is replaced either by valine<br />
(rtM204V), isoleucine (rtM204I) or serine (rtM204S). The valine (rtM204V) variant is, in<br />
most cases, accompanied by another mutation (leucine to methionine; rtL180M) in the<br />
B-domain. 9 A mixture of YMDD variants can exist in one individual.<br />
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, an acyclic nucleotide analogue RT inhibitor, appears to be<br />
effective against the YMDD drug-resistant mutant population. In vitro studies, tenofovir<br />
demonstrated a combination of low cytotoxicity and antiviral effi cacy. It was equally<br />
effective at inhibiting wild-type HBV-DNA replication and at inhibiting DNA replication<br />
in the YMDD variant, rtM180V. 10 Clinical studies investigating the effect of tenofovir on<br />
HBV replication have shown that it has signifi cant activity against lamivudineresistant<br />
mutants both in chronic HBV patients and in human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV)/HBV<br />
co-infected patients. 11–17<br />
Mathematical modelling provides a tool for evaluating the effect of antiviral therapy. It<br />
can provide insight into the speed and variability in patterns of viral decay, which may<br />
be useful in the design of future treatment strategies. The decay curve of HBV during<br />
therapy with nucleoside analogues exhibits a biphasic decline during the fi rst 4 weeks of<br />
treatment. Analysis of these viral kinetics can be used to calculate both the effectiveness<br />
of therapy in inhibiting viral production as well as the clearance of cells infected with<br />
HBV. We have used two previously published models to describe viral decline during<br />
treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients and investigate the viral dynamics of HBV<br />
replication after the addition of tenofovir to lamivudine therapy. 18–19