On 24 February 2022, K.S. Liem will defend his PhD dissertation, entitled: ‘Optimizing Antiviral Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis B. A controlled shift towards cure’.
- Promotor
- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Thursday 24 Feb 2022, 15:30 - 17:00
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Senate Hall
- Building
- Erasmus Building
- Location
- Campus Woudestein
Despite effective vaccination, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) poses a substantial hazard to public health with limited options for finite treatment. The goals of treatment for patients with CHB –improving survival and quality of life – can be achieved by nucleos(t)ide analogues (NA). However, since NA therapy does not directly target key sources of intrahepatic virion production (cccDNA and integrated DNA), patients rarely achieve functional cure. Finite treatment approaches before patients achieve HBsAg loss and other treatment regimens have therefore been studied. This thesis centers on treatment optimization for patients with CHB: maintaining response after withdrawing or dose reducing NA treatment, improving response by modifying the NA treatment regimen with PEG-IFN add-on, and studying response and health-seeking behaviour in relation to use of complementary and alternative medicine.
To this end, the thesis was divided in two parts: in part I, we studied the sustainability of response after discontinuing long-term NA therapy and evaluated predictors of off-therapy flares. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of PEG-IFN add-on to NA monotherapy on serological response and aimed to identify the best candidates for PEG-IFN add-on therapy in clinical practice. In part II, we investigated how miscellaneous treatment modifications may influence renal function or health-seeking behavior.
The PhD defences will not take place publicly in the usual way. A live stream link has been provided to candidate. The ceremony will begin exactly at 15:30.
