Effect of short-term prednisone therapy on aminotransferase levels and hepatitis B virus markers in chronic type B hepatitis.

We have studied the effect of short-term high-dose prednisone therapy on aminotransferase levels and hepatitis B virus markers in 6 patients with chronic type B hepatitis. All showed a decrease in amino transferase levels during treatment. This was followed by a transient increase in aminotransferase levels after prednisone was discontinued. In 5 patients, there was a decrease in hepatitis B virus deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase activity at the time of postprednisone peak of aminotransferase levels. Three of them became transiently deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase negative. All the patients have remained hepatitis B e antigen-positive throughout the period of observation. We have also found transient deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase negativity unrelated to prednisone therapy in 2 patients with chronic type B hepatitis: in one during a superimposed episode of acute type A hepatitis, and in the other during a period of pronounced alanine aminotransferase elevation. We postulate that these periods of deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase negativity are due to a decreased number of hepatitis B virus-infected cells in the liver as a consequence of hepatic necrosis.