title: Correlation between serum transaminase activity and virus load among patients with chronic liver disease type B.
abstract: Newly developed hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA quantitative assays, transcription-mediated amplification and hybridization protection assay (TMA-HPA) and branched-DNA assay were clinically evaluated. The subjects consisted of 160 chronic HBV carriers; 48 were hepatitis Be antigen (HBeAg)-positive, whereas 109 were anti-HBe-positive (three were both negative). All subjects with HBeAg, except one, showed high HBV-DNA replication levels (>/=10(5.8) copies/ml). In HBeAg negative subjects, there was a strong correlation between the serum HBV-DNA and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels; ALT level was usually normal if the samples tested showed an HBV-DNA level less than 10(5)/ml, whereas, the majority of the sera with an HBV-DNA concentration greater than 10(7)copies/ml showed elevation in serum ALT level. An intermediate range of HBV-DNA level (10(5)-10(7) copies/ml) was associated with variable ALT activity. In conclusion, a serum HBV-DNA level associated with ALT elevation was lower in patients with type B chronic liver disease negative for HBeAg compared with their HBeAg-positive counterparts. There was usually no or mild liver disease activity when patients with chronic HBV infection have serum HBV-DNA levels less than 10(5)copies/ml.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, 207 Uehara, Okinawa, Japan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakugawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakasone
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakayoshi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashiro
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maeshiro
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kinjo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saito