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Serum hepatitis B core-related antigen is an effective tool to categorize patients with HBeAg-negative chronic

Elisabetta Loggi1, Ranka Vukotic1, Fabio Conti1

  • 1Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Centro di Ricerca per lo Studio delle Epatiti, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

Journal of Viral Hepatitis
|December 22, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) serum levels accurately distinguish active chronic hepatitis B from quiescent infection. This marker aids in patient classification, offering a reliable tool for clinical management.

Area of Science:

  • Hepatology
  • Virology
  • Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

  • Distinguishing active chronic hepatitis B (CHB) from clinically quiescent infection (CIB) is challenging.
  • Hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) is a quantifiable marker with diagnostic potential.
  • Current methods may not always easily differentiate between CHB and CIB states.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate HBcrAg serum levels in HBeAg-negative HBV infection.
  • To assess HBcrAg's ability to identify clinical profiles compared to HBsAg levels.
  • To determine HBcrAg's utility in classifying patients with HBV infection.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective assessment of HBcrAg serum levels using ChemiLuminescent Enzyme Immunoassay (CLEIA).
  • Analysis of data from treatment-naive, HBeAg-negative patients.
  • Correlation of serological data (HBcrAg, HBsAg, HBV-DNA) with clinical profiles over a minimum 1-year follow-up.

Main Results:

  • HBcrAg correlated closely with HBV-DNA (Spearman r=0.746) and weakly with HBsAg (Spearman r=0.471).
  • HBcrAg levels were significantly higher in CHB patients than in CIB carriers.
  • An HBcrAg cut-off of 2.5 logU/mL optimally identified CIB patients with accuracy comparable to HBsAg.

Conclusions:

  • Single-point HBcrAg measurement accurately identifies CIB in HBeAg-negative HBV infection.
  • HBcrAg serves as a valuable tool for patient classification and clinical outcome assessment.
  • HBcrAg offers improved accuracy over HBsAg in categorizing difficult-to-classify patients.

Keywords:
HBcrAg serum levelsHBeAg-negative infectionHBsAg serum levelschronic hepatitis B

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