Entecavir Effective for Hepatitis B Patients with Liver Cancer

Initial treatment with entecavir (Baraclude) monotherapy worked well in chronic hepatitis B patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, lowering viral load and improving liver health.

Over years or decades chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can lead to serious liver disease including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Treatment with antiviral drugs can lower HBV viral load, potentially clear the virus, and reduce the risk of liver disease progression, but its effectiveness in people who already have advanced disease has been less extensively studied.

Read more:

Androgen Receptor May Explain Why More Men with Hepatitis B Develop Liver Cancer

Androgen receptors -- proteins on cell surfaces that bind with male hormones like testosterone -- interact directly with hepatitis B virus (HBV) to turn on genes that trigger cell changes leading to liver cancer, according to a study published in the May 19, 2010 issue of Science Translational Medicine. Because androgen receptors are more active in men, this finding helps explain why men with chronic hepatitis B are about 3 times more likely than women to develop hepatocellular carcinoma.

Read more:

Does Previous Hepatitis B Exposure Increase Liver Cancer Risk?

People who were previously exposed to hepatitis B virus (HBV) have an increased likelihood of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) even if they clear the virus, according to a study presented at the recent American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases "Liver Meeting" (AASLD 2010) in Boston. These results suggest that individuals with prior HBV exposure, as well as those with chronic hepatitis B, could benefit from regular liver cancer monitoring.Jeffrey Tang and colleagues from Henry Ford Health System in Detroit conducted a retrospective cohort study to explore the association between hepatitis B serologic status and development of HCC among North American patients.

Read more:

EASL 2009: Does HBV Viral Load Level Predict Development of Liver Fibrosis?

Two studies presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL 2009) last month in Copenhagen looked at the association between HBV DNA level and development of fibrosis, with findings suggesting that the role of HBV viral load differs for hepatitis B "e" antigen (HBeAg) negative and HBeAg positive individuals.

Read more: