Affiliation:
1. Department of Microbiology and Center of Infectious Disease, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China
2. Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
3. Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
4. 302 Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China
5. The No. 88 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Shandong, China
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The study was designed to investigate whether serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) RNA is a strong surrogate marker for intrahepatic HBV covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) compared with serum HBV DNA, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Serum HBV RNA, HBV DNA, HBsAg, HBeAg, and intrahepatic cccDNA were quantitatively detected at baseline (
n
= 82) and 96 weeks (
n
= 62) after treatment with nucleos(t)ide analogue (NUC) in HBeAg-positive CHB patients. The correlations among serum HBV RNA, HBV DNA, HBsAg, HBeAg, and intrahepatic cccDNA levels were then statistically analyzed. The results showed that pretreatment intrahepatic cccDNA levels correlated better with serum HBV DNA levels (
r
= 0.36,
P
< 0.01) than with serum HBV RNA levels (
r
= 0.25,
P
= 0.02), whereas no correlations were found between pretreatment intrahepatic cccDNA levels and HBsAg (
r
= 0.15,
P
= 0.17) or HBeAg (
r
= 0.07,
P
= 0.56) levels. At 96 weeks after NUC treatment, intrahepatic cccDNA levels correlated well with HBsAg levels (
r
= 0.39,
P
< 0.01) but not with serum HBV RNA, HBV DNA, and HBeAg levels (all
P
> 0.05). Besides, the decline in the intrahepatic cccDNA level from baseline to week 96 correlated better with the reduction in the serum HBsAg levels than with the decreases in the levels of the other markers (for the HBsAg decline,
r
= 0.38,
P
< 0.01; for the HBV DNA decline,
r
= 0.35,
P
= 0.01; for the HBV RNA decline,
r
= 0.28,
P
< 0.05; for the HBeAg decline,
r
= 0.18,
P
= 0.19). In conclusion, the baseline serum HBV RNA level or its decline after 96 weeks of NUC therapy correlated with the corresponding intrahepatic cccDNA level, while it was less than that seen with serum HBV DNA at baseline and HBsAg (or its decline) at 96 weeks after treatment, respectively.
Funder
Major Science and Technology Special Project of China Twelfth Five-year Plan
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology