Effects of antiviral agents and HBV genotypes on intrahepatic covalently closed circular DNA in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients

Table 2 Histological, biochemical and virological data on different therapy responses (mean ± SD)

Parameter	HBeAg positive	HbeAg serocon -version	Sustained virological response	Virological flares
Number of patients	48	17	18	30
Mean Knodell score
Pretreatment	8.4 ± 4.1	7.1 ± 4.2	8.0 ± 4.0	8.4 ± 3.9
Post-treatment	6.0 ± 3.6	5.1 ± 3.1a	6.1 ± 3.0	5.2 ± 2.7a
Mean ALT level (nkat/L)
Pretreatment	3206 ± 2338	3841 ± 2371	3340 ± 2638	4576 ± 2505
Post-treatment	1018 ± 985	618 ± 384a	517 ± 300	601 ± 400
24 wk off- treatment			851 ± 200	380 ± 183e
Serum HBV DNA (log10)
Pretreatment	7.9 ± 0.9	7.5 ± 1.0	7.3 ± 1.3	7.6 ± 0.8
Post-treatment	4.4 ± 1.4a	3.0 ± 0.2ac	3.1 ± 0.3a	3.3 ± 0.4a
24 wk off-treatment			3.2 ± 0.3	6.1 ± 0.8ac
Intrahepatic HBV DNA (log10)
Pretreatment	6.3 ± 0.8	5.6 ± 1.2	5.9 ± 0.8	6.0 ± 1.1
Post-treatment	5.1 ± 1.5	4.1 ± 0.8a	4.5 ± 1.6	4.3 ± 1.0a
Intrahepatic ccc DNA (log10)
Pretreatment	5.5 ± 1.1	5.8 ± 1.0	4.6 ± 1.0	5.4 ± 0.8e
Post-treatment	3.9 ± 1.5	2.8 ± 1.3ac	4.0 ± 0.9	3.8 ± 0.8a

^aP < 0.05 vs post-treatment,

^cP < 0.05 vs HBeAg positive,

^eP < 0.05 vs sustained virological response. ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; ccc DNA: Covalently closed circular DNA.