Detecting Occult HBV Infection in Liver Donors Positive for Antibody to Hepatitis B Core Antigen (Anti-HBc)

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Trial end date: 2022-12-31

Summary

After LT, long-term immunosuppressive therapy is required to prevent organ rejection. Therefore, for organs which may harbour OBI, there is a risk of reactivation which may result in liver graft failure. As a consequence, all patients who receive an anti-HBc positive graft will receive antiviral prophylaxis. Currently, all such patients will be commenced on life-long entecavir, which is highly effective in preventing reactivation.2 One major disadvantage of using such a blanket approach is that a significant proportion of anti-HBc donors may not actually have underlying occult HBV infection, and recipients of such grafts may not require lifelong antiviral therapy. Current markers such as HBsAg and HBV DNA are not sensitive enough to detect the presence of OBI.

This is the first trial proposed to look at the efficacy of these novel HBV biomarkers in identifying occult HBV infection when used in combination, and to identify patients who will not need long term antiviral prophylaxis.

• Phase: N/A

Details

• Lead Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
• Treatments: Antibodies; Antiviral Agents; Entecavir; Hepatitis B Antibodies