High dose lamivudine in HBV-related cirrhotic patients with unsatisfactory response after adefovir add-on

Before tenofovir approval for chronic hepatitis B therapy, the clinical management of patients with suboptimal response or virological breakthrough during combination treatment with lamivudine and adefovir dipivoxil was a difficult clinical challenge.

In order to improve virologic response and reduce the risk of decompensation, we evaluate the efficacy of a high dose of lamivudine on chronic HBV patients who have previously presented an unsatisfactory response during treatment with lamivudine 100mg/day and adefovir 10mg/day.

Six patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis were prospectively enrolled. All were HBeAg-negative and presented a suboptimal response or virological breakthrough after "adefovir add-on" because of development of clinical breakthrough during Lamivudine treatment. Lamivudine dose was increased to 200 or 300 mg, depending on viral load. After 12 months of follow-up, virological and biochemical response were evaluated.

After 12 months of high-dose lamivudine, all patients (6/6, 100%) achieved a significant decrease of serum HBV DNA (mean reduction 2,62 ± 1,15 Log10 UI/ml, P = 0.03) and normalized ALT. In three patients (3/6, 50%), HBV DNA became undetectable within 6 months. No patient developed liver decompensation and no significant changes occurred in serum creatinine, serum and urinary electrolytes. No adverse events were registered.

In our experience, rescue strategy with high-dose lamivudine inhibited viral replication leading to undetectability of serum HBVDNA. This rescue treatment presented a good safety profile, without adverse events during the study period. Customized increase of nucleos(t)ide analogues dose in difficult-to-treat patients may be a proficient approach in challenging clinical setting.