title: Serum hepatitis B surface antigen is correlated with intrahepatic total HBV DNA and cccDNA in treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis B but not in patients with HBV related hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate correlations between intrahepatic hepatitis B virus total DNA, covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), and serum HBsAg in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B and HBV related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Liver tissues were taken from 42 HBV related HCC and 36 patients with chronic hepatitis B. A fraction of DNA extracted from liver tissue was digested with a plasmid-safe ATP-dependent DNase and used for HBV cccDNA detection. The remaining DNA was used for the detection of HBV total DNA and β-globin, the latter of which is a housekeeping gene and quantified for normalization by real-time PCR. Quantitation of serum HBsAg was performed by a chemiluminescence assay. Serum HBsAg had positive correlations with serum HBV DNA (r = 0.636, P < 0.001), intrahepatic HBV total DNA (r = 0.519, P = 0.001) and cccDNA (r = 0.733, P < 0.001) in 36 treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B, while HBsAg correlated poorly with DNA (r = 0.224, P = 0.210), intrahepatic total DNA and cccDNA in the tumor (r = 0.351, P = 0.031; r = 0.164, P = 0.324, respectively) and non-tumor (r = 0.237, P = 0.152; r = 0.072, P = 0.667, respectively) liver tissues of 42 HCC. HBV cccDNA and total DNA were significantly higher in liver tissue from chronic hepatitis B than in tumor and non-tumor of HCC (P < 0.001). Serum HBsAg and HBV DNA were also higher in chronic hepatitis B than in HCC (P < 0.001). It was concluded that levels of serum HBsAg and intrahepatic cccDNA and total DNA were significantly higher in chronic hepatitis B than in HCC, and significant correlations among them were observed in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B but not in HCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Disease Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Meirong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Shichun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Dianrong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xiu
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xing Tai
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Fengmin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xueen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens