Liver disease, especially viral hepatitis, is an important public health issue, which frequent leads to liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver-related death. Around 340 to 400 million persons are infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and 130 to 210 million persons are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) worldwide, In Taiwan, the prevalence of HBV infection is 15-20%, and the prevalence of HCV infection is 2-5% in general population. Moreover, there are some HCV-hyperendemic areas in southern Taiwan with anti-HCV prevalence rate of as high as 30-40%.~HBV/HCV dual infections is not uncommon in HBV epidemic areas, such as Southeastern Asia, with a prevalence rate of 1.1% in southern Taiwan. Recent study showed that the risk of HCC incidence is even higher among HBV/HCV co-infected persons than those with HBV or HCV mono-infection, indicating the importance of disease control in this clinical setting.~The PEG-IFN/RBV has been effective in the treatment of HCV-dominant, treatment-naïve patients with HCV/HBV dual infections. For treatment-naive HCV genotype 1 (HCV GT1)/HBV co-infected patients, 48 weeks of peginterferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) could achieve an HCV sustained virological response (SVR) rate of 72%, which was comparable to 77% for patients with HCV GT1 monoinfection. For treatment-naive HCV GT2 or GT3 /HBV co-infected patients, 24 weeks of PEG-IFN plus RBV could achieve an HCV SVR rate of 83%, which was comparable to 84% for patients with HCV GT2/3 monoinfection . Furthermore, PEG-IFN plus RBV combination therapy could enhance seroclearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) with an HBsAg loss rate of upto 11%. Nevertheless, there is about 30% of HCV GT1/HBV and 20% of HCV GT2 or 3/HBV co-infected patients refractory to current PEG-IFN/RBV combination therapy, which remains at high risk of HCC and liver-related death.~Boceprevir is an oral antiviral drug, which is NS3/4A protease inhibitor. Boceprevir has been approved for treating HCV GT1 infection by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 11 May 2011. For HCV GT1 mono-infected patients who refractory to previous PEG-IFN plus RBV combination therapy, becoprevir combined with PEG-IFN/RBV triple therapy can improve the treatment efficacy. The SVR rate of becoprevir-based triple therapy is about 3 times when compared to patients who received PEG-IFN with RBV dual therapy [14].The investigators , therefore, hypothesize that boceprevir plus PEG-IFN/RBV is effective in treating HCV GT1/HBV dually infected patients who are refractory to previous PEG-IFN/RBV combination therapy.
The aim of this study is to explore the efficacy and safety of boceprevir -based triple therapy to rescue HCV genotype 1 (HCV GT1)/HBV dually infected patients refractory to previous peginterferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) combination therapy.