The importance of the serum quantitative levels of hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B e antigen in children with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

Background/Aims: We aimed to investigate the clinical importance of quantitative levels of serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), and to detect their correlation with hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA load, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, hepatic activity index (HAI) and fibrosis scores. Materials and Methods: A total of 56 HBeAg-positive children with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were included in the study. Quantification of HBsAg and HBeAg was performed using an automated chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Comparisons were performed using the paired t-test, Mann-Whitney U test or t-test for independent samples. Correlations were tested using the Pearson correlation analysis. Results: Significant differences were found between groups of pre-and post treatment quantitative levels of HBsAg, HBeAg, HBV DNA, and ALT. Comparison of HBsAg, HBeAg, HBV DNA, and ALT levels before the treatment and decrease ratios of these levels after treatment according to HAI and fibrosis scores did not show any statistically significant differences. There was a positive correlation between pretreatment HBV DNA load and HBeAg levels, and a negative correlation between pretreatment HBV DNA and ALT levels. There was a negative correlation between decrease ratios of HBsAg and ALT levels after treatment. Patients with post treatment HBeAg seroconversion had a lower post treatment HBV DNA load and a higher decrease ratio of HBsAg than patients who did not have HBeAg seroconversion. Conclusion: The present study indicated that HBsAg and HBeAg levels significantly decreased during treatment and that HBeAg correlated with HBV DNA load. Quantitative HBeAg and HBsAg assays could therefore have an important role in treatment of CHB.

Correlation of Quantitative Assay of HBsAg and Hepatitis B Virus DNA Levels Among Chronic HBV Patients Attending Pathologist Lancet Laboratory in Nairobi, Kenya

“…Positive correlations have been documented between HBsAg and serum HBV DNA levels in patients with CHB on treatment (11,12). Baseline HBsAg levels have been shown to predict both HBsAg seroclearance (13) and a surrogate marker for monitoring HBV treatment response (14).…”

Clinical Usefulness of HBsAg Quantification in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection

“…In contrast to these studies, there was no significant relationship between liver histology and qHBsAg levels in only a few studies with small sample size. For instance, Demiroren et al conducted a study on 56 HBeAg positive patients receiving interferon alpha 2b treatment and found no meaningful relationship between qHBsAg level and fibrosis degree (30). Contrary to what was noted in that study, it was demonstrated that qHBsAg levels specifically identified significant fibrosis in treatment-naive HBeAg-positive HBV carriers in another study conducted with a larger patient group (31).…”

“…In a study carried out by Demiroren et al 56 HBeAg positive children treated with interferon alfa-2b were examined for their pre-treatment and post-treatment qHBsAg levels and a significant difference was observed (30). In another study, Brunetto et al considered the possibility of qHBsAg seroclearance as 30% for patients that show more than 1 log decrease in qHBsAg levels after interferon treatment within 3 years.…”

Quantitative determination of HBsAg levels in chronically infected patients with hepatitis B virus

“…Ülkemizde yapılan çalışmalarda da, KHB hastalarında HBsAg seviyelerinin HBV DNA ile korelasyon gösterdiği (14)(15)(16) , kantitatif HBsAg ölçümün peg-interferon tedavisinin etkinliğini izlemede HBV DNA ile yer değişebileceği (14) ve inaktif ve aktif taşıyıcıları ayırmada kullanılabileceği (16) bildirmiştir. KHB'li çocuk hastalarda yapılan bir çalışmada da, tedavi sırasında HBsAg, HBeAg, HBV DNA ve ALT seviyelerinin belirgin biçimde düştüğü ve kantitatif HBsAg testlerinin KHB tedavisinin takibinde oldukça önemli role sahip olduğu belirtilmiştir (17) . Başka bir çalışmada ise inaktif taşıyıcılarda kantitatif HBsAg seviyeleri ile HBV DNA arasında herhangi bir ilişki bulunmadığı diğer yandan KHB'li hastalarda kantitatif HBsAg seviyesi ile HBV DNA arasında orta derecede ilişki bulunduğu bildirilmiştir.…”