title: Clinical implications of hepatitis B surface antigen quantitation in the natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  HBsAg quantitation may be useful for managing patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We explored the clinical implications of HBsAg quantitation for patients with HBsAg levels >250IU/ml (Abbott Diagnostics).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and thirty-three HBV-infected patients comprising 29 immune tolerance cases, 49 treatment-naïve HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) cases, 91 inactive HBV carrier cases, and 64 treatment-naïve HBeAg-negative CHB cases were analyzed. HBsAg was quantified by the Architect HBsAg assay (Abbott Diagnostics) after a 1:500 automated dilution.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HBsAg (log10IU/ml) was established for immune tolerance (4.50±0.43), HBeAg-positive CHB (4.17±0.66), inactive HBV carrier (3.32±0.44), and HBeAg-negative CHB (3.23±0.40); (p=4.92×10(-35)). No significant difference was observed between inactive HBV carrier and HBeAg-negative CHB (p=0.247). The proportions of HBsAg <2000IU/ml for inactive HBV carrier and HBeAg-negative CHB were 51.6% and 59.3%, respectively (p=0.341). Positive correlations between HBsAg and HBV DNA were observed for immune tolerance (p=1.23×10(-4)) and HBeAg-positive CHB (p=0.003), but not for HBeAg-negative CHB (p=0.432). A negative correlation between HBsAg and age was observed for immune tolerance (p=0.030), HBeAg-positive CHB (p=0.016), and inactive HBV carrier (p=0.001), but not in HBeAg-negative CHB (p=0.249). No significant differences between HBsAg and ALT for HBeAg-positive (p=0.338) or HBeAg-negative CHB (p=0.564) were observed. For patients with HBsAg quantitation >250IU/ml, HBsAg may reflect HBV DNA replication for HBeAg-positive cases. HBsAg is not a suitable marker for evaluating hepatitis activity and distinguishing between cases of HBeAg-negative CHB and inactive HBV carrier state.
authors: Institute of Infectious Disease, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China; The Chongqing Key Laboratory for Research of Infectious Diseases, China.
authors: Zhaoxia
authors: Z
authors: Tan
authors: Institute of Infectious Disease, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China; The Chongqing Key Laboratory for Research of Infectious Diseases, China.
authors: Maoshi
authors: M
authors: Li
authors: Institute of Infectious Disease, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China; The Chongqing Key Laboratory for Research of Infectious Diseases, China.
authors: Xuemei
authors: X
authors: Kuang
authors: Institute of Infectious Disease, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China; The Chongqing Key Laboratory for Research of Infectious Diseases, China.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Tang
authors: Institute of Infectious Disease, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China; The Chongqing Key Laboratory for Research of Infectious Diseases, China.
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Fan
authors: Institute of Infectious Disease, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China; The Chongqing Key Laboratory for Research of Infectious Diseases, China.
authors: Guohong
authors: G
authors: Deng
authors: Institute of Infectious Disease, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China; The Chongqing Key Laboratory for Research of Infectious Diseases, China.
authors: Yuming
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Institute of Infectious Disease, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China; Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center, The 88th Hospital of Chinese PLA, China; The Chongqing Key Laboratory for Research of Infectious Diseases, China. Electronic address: hedengming@gmail.com.
authors: Dengming
authors: D
authors: He
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens
keywords: Age; HBV DNA; HBsAg quantitation; Natural history