Plasma miR-146a predicts serological conversion of hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) in chronic hepatitis B patients treated with nucleotide analogs
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Published on: September 25, 2019
Yi Ouyang1,2, Xiaoyu Fu1,2, Shifang Peng1,2
1Department of Infectious Diseases, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, China.
Background:
To investigate the association of plasma miR-146a with serological conversion of hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) treated with nucleotide analogs (NAs).
Methods:
This was a retrospective study of 115 HBeAg-positive patients with CHB treated at Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China, between September 2009 and March 2014. Patients were grouped according to whether they had achieved seroconversion of HBeAg by 104 weeks of NAs treatment. We assessed plasma miR-146a using miScript polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Serum alanine transaminase (ALT), hepatitis B virus (HBV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) load, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) titer, HBeAg titer, and plasma miR-146a were measured at 0, 24, 48, and 104 weeks of treatment. Finally, we also determined ΔmiR-146a24w and ΔmiR-146a48w.
Results:
ΔmiR-146a48w was independently associated with seroconversion of HBeAg at 104 weeks [odds ratio (OR) =1.302; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.159-1.962; P=0.029]. We obtained an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of ΔmiR-14648w of 0.757 for seroconversion of HBeAg (P=0.013). At the optimal cutoff value equivalent to a Youden index of 67.9%, the specificity and sensitivity of ΔmiR-14648w were 63.7% and 88.3%, respectively. Positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values were 70.87% and 84.48%, respectively.
Conclusions:
ΔmiR-146a48w was independently associated with seroconversion of HBeAg in CHB patients treated with NAs.
