Efficacy of interferon alpha-2b and lamivudine therapy for chronic hepatitis B in children

To evaluate the efficacy of interferon (IFN) alpha-2b and lamivudine therapy in children with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection Method Ten children who developed chronic hepatitis B infection received IFN alpha-2b 10 million international units (IU)/m 2 body surface area, subcutaneously three times a week for six months IFN+lamivudine therapy began to be used in the cases who were unresponsive to IFN treatment Results Among 27 HBsAg (+) subjects in this study, interferon treatment was given to 11 subjects who developed chronic hepatitis One case was excluded from the study due to detection of Herpes type 1 encephalitis At the end of six months of follow-up, complete response was obtained in three (30%) patients and partial response in four (40%) patients, whereas no response was detected in three (30%) patients Fifty percent of the cases experienced serological response, 70% biochemical response, and all (100%) had histological response In three cases started concomitant IFN+lamivudine therapy, HBV-DNA became negative at the second month of treatment Conclusions IFN-alpha and lamivudine can be used for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection in children