title: Quantitative hepatitis B core antibody level is associated with inflammatory activity in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B patients.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) levels vary during different phases of disease in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and can be used as a predictor of both interferon-α and nucleoside analogue therapy response. However, there is no information on the association between the quantitative serum anti-HBc (qAnti-HBc) level and liver inflammation in CHB patients. Therefore, we investigated these relationships in a large cohort of treatment-naïve CHB patients. A total of 624 treatment-naïve CHB patients were included in the study. The serum qAnti-HBc level was moderately correlated with ALT and AST levels (P < 0.001) in both hepatitis B e antigen-positive (HBeAg [+]) and HBeAg-negative (HBeAg [-]) CHB patients. CHB patients with no to mild inflammation (G0-1) had significantly lower serum qAnti-HBc levels than patients with moderate to severe inflammation (G2-4) (P < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis suggested that a serum qAnti-HBc cut-off value of 4.36 log10 IU/mL provided a sensitivity of 71.68%, specificity of 73.81%, positive predictive value of 78.43%, and negative predictive value of 66.24% in HBeAg (+) CHB patients with moderate to severe inflammation (G≥2). A cut-off value of 4.62 log10 IU/mL provided a sensitivity of 54.29%, specificity of 90.00%, positive predictive value of 95.00%, and negative predictive value of 36.00% in HBeAg (-) CHB patients with moderate to severe inflammation (G≥2). Serum qAnti-HBc levels were positively associated with liver inflammation grade. Furthermore, we identified optimal serum qAnti-HBc cut-off values for the prediction of inflammation activity in both HBeAg (+) and HBeAg (-) treatment-naïve CHB patients.
authors: Division of Liver Disease, The Fifth Hospital of Shijiazhuang, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.
authors: Min-Ran
authors: MR
authors: Li
authors: Jian-Hua
authors: JH
authors: Lu
authors: Li-Hong
authors: LH
authors: Ye
authors: Xing-Li
authors: XL
authors: Sun
authors: Yan-Hua
authors: YH
authors: Zheng
authors: Zhi-Quan
authors: ZQ
authors: Liu
authors: Hai-Cong
authors: HC
authors: Zhang
authors: Yun-Yan
authors: YY
authors: Liu
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Lv
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Huang
authors: Er-Hei
authors: EH
authors: Dai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase