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Chapter 4.3<br />

216<br />

Figure 1. Median HBV DNA (log 10 copies/ml) in patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B in the<br />

fi rst month of treatment with PEG-IFN alone (A) or in combination with lamivudine (B).<br />

week 1 and 4. All patients treated with combination therapy showed a biphasic HBV<br />

DNA decline pattern. The median decline in viral load was 1.59 log10 copies/ml (range,<br />

-0.26 – 2.36) in the fi rst week of treatment. The median slope of viral decline at the end<br />

of the fi rst week (day 4 to day 7) was 0.083 log10 copies/ml (range, -0.297 – 0.250) per day<br />

in the combination therapy group.<br />

Pharmacokinetics of pegylated interferon-alpha-2b<br />

In a fi rst attempt to understand why HBV DNA levels showed a minimal decline during<br />

the fi rst month, we analyzed PEG-IFN α-2b levels in all 96 patients. Maximum levels of<br />

PEG-IFN α-2b concentration were reached one day after administration. Thereafter, a<br />

decline in the PEG-IFN α-2b levels was seen in all patients (Figure 2A). No signifi cant

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