| Theme |
Hepatitis B: Trends & Topics |
| Title |
Hepatitis B Treatment and HBs Antigen, HB Core‒related Antigen |
| Author |
Hiroshi Yatsuhashi |
National Hospital Organization (NHO) Nagasaki Medical Center |
| [ Summary ] |
The long‒term goal of antiviral treatment in HBV persistently infected patients is the disappearance of HBs antigen, which means that hepatic cccDNA has been almost eliminated and is called "functional cure". It is also the goal of drug research. Both the amount of HBs antigen and the amount of HBV core‒related antigen have been confirmed to correlate with the amount of cccDNA in hepatocytes, and are attracting attention as new markers reflecting the pathology of hepatitis B. It has been confirmed that decrease in the amount of HBs antigen differs depending on the type of antiviral treatment and the type of drugs used. |