Doctor said it’s less common that I am HBeAg positive yet low HBsAg.
Been on antiviral forever and on TAF as soon as it hit the market - when can I reach seroconversion I heard most people on TAF were able to reach seroconversion in just a couple years
Hi @bornwithhepb,
The rates of seroconversion on the current antivirals are around 5%-10%. While this number is small, some patients do achieve seroconversion, and others do not. Why? I don’t know. We are all hopeful to achieve that status one day.
@Caraline, seroconversion would be the ideal goal, but because it is challenging to achieve with our current antivirals, reaching undetectable status is currently the best we can achieve with the medicines available to us.
I was surprised to hear the 10–15% figure and wanted to make sure I understand it correctly. Both hepatologists I’ve seen mentioned that cases like mine are relatively uncommon, and that most patients on TAF seroconvert within 2–3 years. They also said they each have only a small number of patients with a similar profile. Is the 10–15% rate meant to apply to all antiviral treatments or specifically to TAF? I’m simply trying to clarify, since this differs from what my hepatologists have shared.
It’s for all antiviral treatments available today. As I said, some patients still seroconvert, although not for the majority of patients. I hope this helps. Bansah1
I agree with @Bansah1’s interpretation of many studies - seroconversion of either HBeAg → anti-HBe Ab or HBsAg → anti-HBs Ab is very rare (less than 5 percent chance per year) in people living with hepatitis B and taking medication. However, the antiviral medication will slow down the progression of liver disease and liver cancer, so it’s important to keep taking them.
Hi Thomas if a patient has converted from HBeAg → anti-HBe Ab.
Do you know what is the chance a patient converting HBsAg → anti-HBs Ab with medication?
My current situation is that I have antibodies for HBe AB but have not developed anti-HBs. Do you know what is the chance of converting anti-HBs? all labs are normal and HBV viral not detected.
It is the same as above, <5% a year chance that there will be HBsAg seroconversion. This is an average over all people; there may be circumstances that the chances are higher (e.g., if you have very low HBsAg levels already).
Just to provide some context about this, though HCC can occur with any level of HBV DNA, there are degrees of risk. Many people with hepatitis B can get to essentially unmeasurable increased risk of liver cancer with long term therapy if they do not already have existing liver damage.