BACKGROUND Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearance is considered a functional cure for patients with chronic hepatitis B, but is rarely achievable with oral nucleos(t)ide analogues alone. We conducted a randomized controlled proof-of-concept trial to evaluate the impact of adding pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) alfa-2a plus sequential or concomitant hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination.

METHODS A total of 111 patients who achieved serum HBV DNA <20 IU/mL and quantitative HBsAg <3000 IU/mL with entecavir were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to the E + sVIP group (entecavir + peg-IFN alfa-2a [180 µg every week over 48 weeks] plus sequential HBV vaccination [20 µg of HBsAg on weeks 52, 56, 60, and 76]), the E + cVIP group (entecavir + peg-IFN alfa-2a + concomitant HBV vaccination [weeks 4, 8, 12, and 28]), or the control group (entecavir only). The primary endpoint was HBsAg seroclearance at week 100, and secondary endpoints included safety.

RESULTS No differences in baseline quantitative HBsAg were observed among the groups. The E + sVIP group in the intention-to-treat analysis showed a significantly higher chance of HBsAg seroclearance during week 100 than the control group (16.2% vs 0%; P = .025), but the E + cVIP group (5.4%) failed to reach a significant difference (P = .54). Adverse events were significantly more frequent in the E + sVIP (81.1%) and E + cVIP group (70.3%) than the control group (2.7%) (both P < .0001). However, the frequency of serious adverse events did not differ significantly among the 3 groups (2.7%, 5.4%, and 2.7%, respectively; P = 1.00).

CONCLUSIONS Entecavir plus an additional peg-IFN alfa-2a treatment followed by sequential HBV vaccination under an intensified schedule significantly increases the chance of HBsAg seroclearance compared to entecavir alone.

CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION NCT02097004.