Entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) are now equally recommended by all international clinical guidelines as the first-line oral antiviral treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B. Both ETV and TDF are potent nucleos(t)ide analogues with a high genetic barrier to drug resistance. The majority of patients under long-term potent nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment can achieve hepatitis B virus DNA suppression, which is associated with reduction of disease progression and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, in recent two years, there has been an ongoing debate on the potential differences in effectiveness of ETV and TDF on preventing HCC development. In this special issue of Hepatoma Research, we will give a thorough review on all relevant studies and meta-analyses, as well as look into the difference in methodology and statistical analyses aiming to provide a better understanding of how to interpret the findings in these observational studies and meta-analyses of observational studies. We have split the topic into several sub-topics, as follows:
1. Use of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate is associated with a lower risk of hepatocellular carcinoma than entecavir in patients with chronic hepatitis B;
2. Use of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate is not associated with a lower risk of hepatocellular carcinoma than entecavir in patients with chronic hepatitis B;
3. Overview of methodology and statistical strategies in observational study and meta-analysis;
4. Possible biological mechanisms and impact of ethnicity on entecavir vs. tenofovir disoproxil fumarate on reducing the risk of HCC.
Participants
1. Prof. Jonggi Choi Department of Gastroenterology
Asan Medical Center University of Ulsan College of Medicine 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, 05505, Songpa-gu, Seoul, Korea. 2. Prof. Seung Up Kim Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Korea. 3. Prof. Hye Won Lee Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Korea. 4. Prof. Kazumoto Murata Division of Virology,
Department of Infection and immunity
Jichi Medical University. 5. Prof. Masashi Mizokami Genome Medical Sciences Project,
National Center for Global Health and Medicine,
Ichikawa, Japan. The list is arranged in no particular order and being updated.
Hepatoma Research
