A Pilot Study To Evaluate the Efficacy of Response Guided Therapy of Peginterferon Alfa Plus Ribavirin in the Treatment of Patients With HCV/HBV Co-Infection

This is an open label, randomized-controlled, comparative trial. HBV and HCV dually infected patients with negative hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) were enrolled in the study. The definition of HBV and HCV dual infection included seropositivity of HCV antibody (anti-HCV) and HBsAg for more than 6 months, together with positive serum HCV RNA. Eligible subjects were randomized into 2 groups at treatment initiation. Subjects who were randomized into the genotype guided therapy (GGT) group received Peg-IFN and standard dose RBV (1200 mg/day) for 48 weeks in subjects infected with HCV genotype 1 or Peg-IFN and low dose RBV (800 mg/day) for 24 weeks in subjects infected with HCV genotype 2/3; the patients were then followed for 6 months. For subjects who were randomized into the response guided therapy (RGT) group, the duration of Peg-IFN and RBV therapy was abbreviated to 24 weeks in subjects with HCV genotype 1, a pre-treatment low viral load (LVL, < 400000 IU/mL) and RVR (defined asHCV RNA <50 IU/mL at 4th week of therapy); the duration was 16 weeks in subjects with HCV genotype 2/3 and RVR.