Tenofovir is a more suitable treatment than entecavir for chronic hepatitis B patients carrying naturally occurring rtM204I mutations

Table 7 Treatment responses during nucleos(t)ide analogues in patients with pre-existing rtM204I variants

Outcome	Tenofovir (n = 7)	Entecavir (n = 6)	Low genetic barriers1 (n = 4)	P value
Reduction of HBV-DNA (log10 IU/mL), mean ± SD
Mo 3	-3.22 ± 0.74	-2.12 ± 0.532	-2.22 ± 0.402	0.011
Mo 6	-3.97 ± 0.75	-2.71 ± 0.432	-2.92 ± 0.512	0.005
Mo 9	-4.44 ± 0.70	-3.33 ± 0.482	-3.28 ± 0.352	0.004
Mo 12	-4.75 ± 0.59	-3.65 ± 0.432	-3.52 ± 0.602	0.003
Complete virologic response, cumulative incidence
Mo 12	100%	16.7%2	25%2	0.021

¹The low genetic barriers include lamivudine, adefovir, or combination of lamivudine and adefovir;

²The same number of superscripted indicates non-specific difference between groups. The continuous variables were tested by one-way ANOVA among groups, and categorical variables were tested by Fisher’s exact test. SD: standard deviation; HBV: Hepatitis B virus.