The role of different viral biomarkers on the management of chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

Financial support statement: not applicable.Author contributions: LYM was responsible literature search, critical appraisal and drafting of the manuscript. RWHH, JF and WKS were responsible for critical revision of the article. MFY was responsible for conception of the work and critical approval of the article.

Hepatitis B core-related antigen: A novel and promising surrogate biomarker to guide anti-hepatitis B virus therapy

“…Additionally, serum HBcrAg levels at baseline and changes during NA therapy may also serve as suitable indicators in CHB patients [ 26 , 32 - 35 ]. The details are described in published reviews [ 9 - 11 , 36 ].…”

Is liver biopsy essential to identifying the immune tolerant phase of chronic hepatitis B?

“…Novel biomarkers, which can now be measured using blood, might play a role in defining disease phases. 13 Some potential biomarkers that have been investigated include serum cytokines, 14 specific T-cell subsets, 15 microRNA, 16 and hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg). 17,18 For instance, patients in an immune-tolerant phase have significantly higher levels of HBcrAg than those who are in an immune clearance phase or an inactive carrier phase.…”

Editorial: High qHBsAg—is it a good or bad signal?

“…Quantitative hepatitis B surface antigen (qHBsAg) is one important biomarker intimately linked to the life cycle of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), allowing determination of treatment plans and prognoses. 1 The total amount of intrahepatic cccDNA as well as its transcriptional activity really correlate with serum qHBsAg level. 2 Hence, the higher qHBsAg had historically been thought to be a unfavourable predictor; the hazard ratio for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development among low viremic HBeAg-negative patients was 13.7 with serum qHBsAg ≥ 3 log, in contrast to its counterpart.…”

“…Quantitative hepatitis B surface antigen (qHBsAg) is one important biomarker intimately linked to the life cycle of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), allowing determination of treatment plans and prognoses 1 . The total amount of intrahepatic cccDNA as well as its transcriptional activity really correlate with serum qHBsAg level 2 .…”