Antiviral efficacy analysis of telbivudine concurrent with the first cycle of chemotherapy in HBsAg-positive lymphoma patients

•Telbivudine concurrent with initial chemotherapy can reduce HBV reactivation.•Telbivudine concurrent with chemotherapy was still effective when rituximab was used.•Even if baseline HBV viral loads are high, concurrent treatment is also effective.

BackgroundHBV reactivation is a common complication in HBsAg-positive lymphoma patients with chemotherapy or immunotherapy. There is no standard antiviral treatment for these patients undergoing chemotherapy or immunotherapy. The initial time, the agent and the duration time are confused at present.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the antiviral efficacy of telbivudine concurrent with initiation of chemotherapy in HBsAg-positive patients with lymphoma.Study designBetween April 2008 and October 2012, 359 patients with pathological diagnoses of lymphoma were admitted to the hospital. Among those, a cohort of 60 HBsAg-positive cases were included in this retrospective study, and telbivudine was taken at the same day or one day prior to the first cycle of chemotherapy. The rates of HBV reactivation, virological response, undetectable HBV DNA, the relationship between HBV reactivation and its clinical characteristics were investigated.ResultsThe rate of HBV reactivation was 11.7% (7/60), while it was 17.5% (7/40) and 75% (3/4) in patients treated with rituximab based chemotherapy and rituximab maintenance therapy, respectively. The fulminant hepatitis rate was 6.6%. The rates of virological response, undetectable HBV DNA and ALT normalization were 88.3%, 61.7% and 83.3%, respectively. HBV reactivation was associated with rituximab (P = 0.013), and HBeAg-negativity (P = 0.016), but not correlated with age, gender, clinical stages, extranodal disease, bone marrow involvement, B symptoms, HBV viral loads or serum LDH level.ConclusionConcurrent telbivudine treatment with initial chemotherapy can effectively reduce HBV reactivation in HBsAg-positive lymphoma patients, and the efficacy is independent of the baseline HBV viral loads.