title: Clinical implication of serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac-2-binding protein level on hepatitis B e-antigen loss or seroconversion in hepatitis B e-antigen positive patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the impact of pretreatment Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac-2-binding protein (WFA+-M2BP) level on hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) loss or HBeAg seroconversion (SC) for patients with nucleoside/nucleotide analog (NUC) therapy naive HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 57 patients were analyzed. All subjects were initially treated with NUC. We examined the impact of pretreatment WFA+-M2BP level on HBeAg loss and HBeAg SC using univariate and multivariate analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 36 men and 21 women (median age, 39 years). The WFA+-M2BP cut-off index (COI) level ranged 0.43-12.9 (median, 1.55). WFA+-M2BP level in patients with F3 or F4 was significantly higher than that with F0-F2. WFA+-M2BP level in patients with A2 or 3 was significantly higher than that with A0 or 1. For all cases, the 1- and 3-year cumulative HBeAg loss rates were 10.5% and 34.4% and the corresponding cumulative HBeAg SC rates were 8.8% and 29.0%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, in terms of HBeAg loss, pretreatment HBV DNA of 5 log copies/mL or more and pretreatment WFA+-M2BP level of more than 1.55 COI tended to be significant factors linked to loss of HBeAg, while in terms of HBeAg SC, pretreatment HBV DNA of 5 log copies/mL or more was an independent predictor and pretreatment WFA+-M2BP level of more than 1.55 COI tended to be a significant factor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pretreatment WFA+-M2BP level may be a useful predictor for HBeAg loss or SC after NUC therapy for patients with HBeAg positive CHB.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan. enomoto@hyo-med.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hirayuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kyohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kishino
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimono
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Chikage
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takata
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoh
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Akiio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aizawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takashima
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iijima
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishiguchi
keywords: Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac-2-binding protein; chronic hepatitis B; hepatitis B e-antigen loss; hepatitis B e-antigen seroconversion; nucleoside/nucleotide analog