Hepatitis B reactivation in PsA patients: an SLR and meta-analysis for IL-17, IL-23 and JAK inhibitors

Abstract

Abstract Objectives HBV reactivation (HBVr) constitutes a side effect of the treatment of autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Even though HBVr risk of conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) and anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents has long been established, the risk of targeted synthetic (ts)DMARDs and anti-interleukin (anti-IL) agents remains largely unknown. Methods We conducted a SLR (PubMed, Scopus and EMBASE) and meta-analysis to examine the HBVr risk for the following: anti-IL17, anti-IL12/23, anti-IL23 and JAK-inhibitors in patients with chronic HBV infection (HBsAg presence or detectable HBV-DNA) and in patients with prior HBV infection (HBcAb-positive and HBsAg-negative). Meta-analysis was performed using both the fixed and random effects method and was conducted using the R computing language. Results Overall, our study revealed a low HBVr risk of <6% in all agents; the risk was significantly higher for people having chronic compared with those with resolved HBV (14.4% vs 5.1%, respectively P < 0.01). There was no difference among different drugs in the HBVr rates [anti-IL-17: 4% (95% CI: 1–9%), anti-IL-12/IL-23: 2% (95% CI: 0–5%), JAK-inhibitors: 4% (95% CI: 1–8%), anti-IL23: 0%]. Of note, HBVr rate reached 28% in patients with chronic HBV who did not receive anti-viral treatment. For patients with resolved hepatitis, the respective percentage was 4.7%. Conclusion Overall, our meta-analysis shows that patients with chronic HBV receiving anti-IL-17, anti-IL-12/23, anti-IL-23 and JAK-inhibitors have significant risk for HBVr, especially if they are not under anti-viral treatment. In contrast, resolved HBV seems to offer minor risk for HBVr even without anti-viral treatment.