Analysis of the levels of serum hepatitis B surface antigen in different clinical stages of hepatitis B virus infection

Abstract

Objective To explore the levels of serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in different clinical stages of hepatitis B virus(HBV) infection and their correlation with serum HBV DNA. Methods Five hundred and seventy-five patients with HBsAg-positive and without antiviral therapy were enrolled in this study. The patients were classified into six group: IT group (immune tolerant phase, 120 patients), EPH group (hepatitis B e antigen positive hepatitis, 110 patients), LR group (low replicative phase, 90 patients), ENH group (hepatitis B e antigen negative hepatitis, 110 patients), LC group (liver cirrhosis stage, 85 patients) and HCC group (hepatocellular carcinoma, 60 patients). Serum HBsAg and HBV DNA levels were quantified and analyzed through statistics. Results The levels of serum HBsAg in IT group, EPH group, LR group, ENH group, LC group and HCC group were (4.58 ± 0.40), (4.12 ± 0.50), (2.60 ± 0.68), (3.31 ± 0.27), (2.82 ± 0.57) and (3.03 ± 0.39) lg U/ml respectively, and there was significantly different among the different phase (P<0.01). The levels of serum HBsAg in IT group, EPH group, LR group, ENH group, LC group and HCC group had positive correlation with serum HBV DNA level, and the correlation coefficients were 0.627, 0.579, 0.134, 0.317, 0.159 and 0.224 respectively. Conclusions The levels of serum HBsAg is significantly different in the different clinical phase of HBV infection, and the tendency of the correlation between serum HBsAg and serum HBV DNA gradually weakens in general. Key words: Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B surface antigen; Hepatitis B, chronic; Natural history