Serum hepatitis B virus RNA is a predictor of HBeAg seroconversion and virological response with entecavir treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients.

Serum hepatitis B virus RNA is a predictor of HBeAg seroconversion and virological response with entecavir treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients.
World J Gastroenterol. 2019 Feb 14;25(6):719-728
Authors: Luo H, Zhang XX, Cao LH, Tan N, Kang Q, Xi HL, Yu M, Xu XY
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Characteristics of alterations of serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) RNA in different chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients still cannot be fully explained. Whether HBV RNA can predict HBeAg seroconversion is still controversial.
AIM: To investigate whether HBV RNA can predict virological response or HBeAg seroconversion during entecavir (ETV) treatment when HBV DNA is undetectable.
METHODS: The present study evaluated 61 individuals who were diagnosed and treated with long-term ETV monotherapy at the Department of Infectious Diseases of Peking University First Hospital (China) from September 2006 to December 2007. Finally, 30 treatment-naive individuals were included. Serum HBV RNA were extracted from 140 μL serum samples at two time points. Then they were reverse transcribed to cDNA with the HBV-specific primer. The product was quantified by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-PCR) using TAMARA probes. Statistical analyses were performed with IBM SPSS 20.0.
RESULTS: Level of serum HBV RNA at baseline was 4.15 ± 0.90 log10 copies/mL. HBV RNA levels showed no significant difference between the virological response (VR) and partial VR (PVR...

Source: World Journal of Gastroenterology : WJG - February 14, 2019 Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Luo H, Zhang XX, Cao LH, Tan N, Kang Q, Xi HL, Yu M, Xu XY Tags: World J Gastroenterol Source Type: research