Correlation of serum hepatitis B core-related antigen with hepatitis B virus total intrahepatic DNA and covalently closed circular-DNA viral load in HIV–hepatitis B coinfection

Objective: To assess whether quantified hepatitis B core-related antigen (qHBcrAg) is a surrogate marker of intrahepatic replication in HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) coinfection. Design: Cross-sectional study of 31 HIV–HBV-infected patients (total liver biopsies, n = 38) from a well defined cohort. Methods: Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated between qHBcrAg and intrahepatic markers of HBV replication [total intrahepatic-DNA, covalently closed circular (ccc) DNA, cccDNA : total intrahepatic-DNA ratio]. Results: At biopsy, 22 (71.0%) patients were hepatitis B ‘e’ antigen (HBeAg)-positive, 22 (71.0%) had detectable plasma HBV-DNA, and 17 (54.8%) were treated with tenofovir. Median levels (interquartile range) of intrahepatic markers were as follows: HBV cccDNA (n = 34), 0.26 copies/cell (0.4–2.89); total intrahepatic-DNA (n = 38), 2.38 copies/cell (0.58–207.9), and cccDNA : total intrahepatic-DNA ratio (n = 34), 0.05 (interquartile range = 0.01–0.12). There was a significantly strong correlation between qHBcrAg and cccDNA in all patients (Rho = 0.65, P 
Source: AIDS - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: CONCISE COMMUNICATION Source Type: research