High viral load predicts virologic failure in chronic genotype 2 hepatitis C virus-infected patients receiving glecaprevir/pibrentasvir therapy

Abstract

The real-world data of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (GLE/PIB) therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 2 infection remained limited. We aimed to evaluate the possible predictors of virological failure and side effects of GLE/PIB therapy for chronic genotype 2 HCV-infected patients in a real-world setting. A total of 326 compensated HCV genotype 2 patients treated with GLE/PIB 12 weeks for cirrhotic patients (n=56) and 8 weeks for non-cirrhotic patients (n=270) were enrolled. The sustained virological response 12 weeks off therapy (SVR12) was 98.1%, 100%, and 97.7% in overall, GLE/PIB 12-week, and 8-week group, respectively. There were 6 (1.8%) patients with early withdrawal, and 14.1% patients had pruritus, the major adverse effect. In multivariate analyses, end-stage renal disease (odds ratio (OR)=4.056, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.477-11.14, p=0.007) and hypertension (OR=2.325, 95% CI=1.171-4.616, p=0.016) were two significant factors associated with pruritus. There were 6 patients with virologic failure. In patients receiving 8-week GLE/PIB therapy, the SVR12 rate was significant lower in high baseline viral load (≥107 IU/ml) group compared to low viral load group (90.6% v.s 98.7%, p=0.025). Multivariate analyses showed that HCV RNA≥107 IU/ml was one of the independent factors (OR=0.134, 95% CI=0.024-0.748; p=0.022) associated with SVR12. GIE/PIB is an effective, tolerable and safe agent to treat genotype 2 HCV infected patients. However, high viral load (≥107 IU/ml) may predict virologic failure in non-cirrhotic patients receiving 8 weeks GIE/PIB treatment. This result should be further validated in a large cohort in the future.