Study on Treatment of Pegylated Interferon Alfa 2a(Pegasys®) in the Korean Chronic Hepatitis B(CHB) Adults

Study to Identify Eligible Subjects Using Response Guided Therapy-Stopping Rule for Treatment of Pegylated Interferon Alfa 2a(Pegasys®) in the Korean Chronic Hepatitis B(CHB) Adults.

Patients will receive Peginterferon alfa-2a according to the standard medical practice but the observation period is 12 weeks

Inclusion Criteria:

• History of HBsAg positive for more than 6 months
• HBeAg-positive or HBeAg-negative within 8 weeks
• Serum AST or ALT ≥ 80 IU/L
• HBe-Ag positive patients: Serum HBV DNA ≥ 1.0 X 10^5 copies/mL (or 20,000 IU/mL)
• HBeAg-negative patients: serum HBV DNA ≥ 1.0 X 10^4 copies/mL(or 2,000 IU/mL)

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of antiviral therapy for Chronic hepatitis B within 6 months of study enrollment
• Prior treatment of interferon
• Presence of viral coinfections (hepatitis C, hepatitis delta, or human immunodeficiency virus)
• Other chronic liver disease or decompensated liver disease
• platelet<90,000/mm3 or absolute neutrophil count < 1,500 mm3
• Pregnant or lactating woman
• History of Organ transplantation
• Treatment with immunosuppressive/immunomodulatory agents within 6 months prior to study entry