HBV natural history

With recent advances in molecular and genomic investigations, the impact of hepatitis B viral and host factors on the progression of chronic HBV infection has been explored. For viral factors, hepatitis B viral load is a strong predictor for liver disease progression. Hepatitis B viral kinetics appear to be important for successful anti-viral therapy. Serum HBsAg level serves as a complementary marker to viral load for the prediction of HBV-related adverse outcomes in patients with low viral load. In those with low viral load, high serum HBsAg level is associated with higher risks of cirrhosis and HCC...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) persistence and the pathobiology of chronic HBV (CHB) infections result from the interplay between viral replication and host immune responses. We aimed to comprehensively analyse the expression of intrahepatic host genes as well as serum and liver HBV markers in a large cohort of untreated CHB patients. METHODS: One-hundred and five CHB patients untreated at the time of liver biopsy (34 HBeAg[+] and 71 HBeAg[-]) were analysed for the intrahepatic expression profile of 67 genes belonging to multiple innate immunity pathways...

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the T-lymphocyte subpopulation and expression of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1), toll-like receptor (TLR)3, TLR4, and interferon (INF)-γ to illustrate the relationship between hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. METHODS: Blood was taken from normal subjects into anticoagulation tubes to separate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The PBMCs were divided into four groups and cultured with various concentrations of HBeAg for 72 h...