title: The change of the quantitative HBsAg level during the natural course of chronic hepatitis B.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is insufficient information about HBsAg levels and their correlation with serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in chronic hepatitis B (CHB).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to describe HBsAg levels during various phases of CHB and to investigate the correlation with serum HBV DNA levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 645 treatment-naïve Korean CHB patients were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. They were categorized into immune tolerance (IT, n=56), HBeAg-positive hepatitis (EPH, n=150), inactive carrier (IC, n=274) and HBeAg-negative hepatitis (ENH, n=165). The baseline HBsAg and HBV DNA levels were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean HBsAg titres (log IU/ml) differed (P<0.001): IT 4.29, EPH 3.64, IC 2.05 and ENH 3.23. In 645 patients, HBsAg and HBV DNA showed a significant correlation (r=0.693, P<0.001), and this was also observed in the IT, EPH and IC groups (r=0.664, r=0.541, r=0.505, respectively, all P<0.001), but not in the ENH group (r=0.093, P=0.321). Age had a negative correlation with HBsAg (r=-0.451, P<0.001). The cirrhotic patients had a significantly lower HBsAg level than the non-cirrhotic patients (2.41 ± 1.36 vs. 3.02 ± 1.21 log IU/ml, P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HBsAg level varied significantly in different phases of CHB and was correlated with HBV DNA during the IT, EPH and IC phases. These findings can provide additional information to understand the natural course and pathogenesis of CHB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yu J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyun C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Moon S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Joon H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kwang C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Byung C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Seung W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Paik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002353:Carrier State; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004279:DNA, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens