Treatment with lamivudine versus lamivudine and thymosin alpha-1 for e antigen-positive chronic hepatitis B patients: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Currently, there is no evidence on the combination of lamivudine and thymosin alpha-1 on chronic hepatitis B patients. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of lamivudine monotherapy with that of lamivudine and thymosin alpha-1 combination therapy for the treatment of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive hepatitis B patients. RESULTS: We searched PUBMED (from 1966 onwards), EMBASE (from 1966), CBMdisk (Chinese Biomedical Database, from 1978), CNKI (National Knowledge Infrastructure, from 1980), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Eight trials (583 patients in total) were identified. The lamivudine and thymosin alpha-1 combination treatment was significantly superior to lamivudine treatment in terms of ALT normalization rate (80.2% vs. 68.8%, P = 0.01), virological response rate (84.7% vs. 74.9%, P = 0.002), and HBeAg seroconversion rate (45.1% vs. 15.2%, P < 0.00001). CONCLUSION: Among HBeAg-positive patients, thymosin alpha-1 and lamivudine combination therapy may be more effective than lamivudine monotherapy, providing superior rates of biochemical response, virological response, and HBeAg seroconversion.