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Hepatitis B Virus Core-related Antigens as a Marker for Monitoring of Chronic Hepatitis B Infection.

Journal of clinical microbiology 2007 Oct 17; 45(12):3942-7

Link to PubMed abstract

Wong D DK, Tanaka Y Y, Lai C CL, Mizokami M M, Fung J J, Yuen M MF

Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong; Department of Clinical Molecular Informative Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan.

A sensitive chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay has been developed for hepatitis B virus (HBV) core-related antigens (HBcrAg) detection. We aimed to investigate the usefulness of HBcrAg measurement for the monitoring of chronic hepatitis B disease. HBcrAg levels were measured by a chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay in 54 untreated patients and 39 patients treated either with entecavir or lamivudine. HBcrAg concentration correlated positively with serum HBV DNA (r = .820), intrahepatic total HBV DNA (r = .700) and cccDNA levels (r = .664; all P< .001). Higher HBcrAg concentration was associated with greater proportion of hepatitis B core antigen immunostaining. Although not statistically significant, patients with higher necroinflammation and higher fibrosis score tended to have higher serum HBcrAg concentration levels. Of the treated patients, the logarithmic reduction in HBcrAg at week 48 correlated positively with the logarithmic reduction of serum HBV DNA, intrahepatic total HBV DNA and cccDNA. In the 31 patients with undetectable serum HBV DNA (<300 copies/mL) at the end of treatment, 20 (65%) still had detectable HBcrAg. Greater reduction in post-treatment HBcrAg was associated with histological improvement and a decrease in hepatitis B core antigen immunostaining. HBcrAg concentrations of <40,000 kU/mL at baseline and <200 kU/mL at week 24 were associated with a higher chance of undetectable HBV DNA at week 48. In conclusion, serum HBcrAg levels correlated with HBV virological markers and reflected the chronic hepatitis B disease activity in the liver.

Keywords: Hepatitis B