A study of treatment discontinuation for chronic hepatitis B patients

目前的指南建议对慢性乙肝患者进行终身治疗，但相关费用以及耐药性和副作用的风险。最近有人建议，在长期治疗后，高达50%的患者可以安全而成功地停止药物治疗。我们的项目将通过对人类免疫系统和乙肝病毒进行详细研究，确定哪些患者可以安全地停止治疗。这将是病人护理的一个重要进步。

Guidelines currently recommend lifelong treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis B, with associated cost and risks of drug resistance and side effects. It has recently been suggested that up to 50% of patients may safely and successfully stop drug after long-term treatment. Our project will identify which patients can safely stop treatment, by performing detailed studies of the human immune system and the hepatitis B virus. This will be an important advance for patient care.