Author(s)

Jun Tian, Zheng Zhou, HuaLing Tan, Ke Wang^*

Affiliation(s)

Clinical Laboratory, Yongchuan People's Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing 402160, China.

Corresponding Author

Ke Wang

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the predictive value of serum hepatitis B virus pregenomic RNA (HBV pgRNA) in the seroconversion of HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Methods: 135 patients with HBeAg positive CHB patients were admitted to our hospital from June 2021 to June 2022 were selected to detect the serum HBV pgRNA and HBV DNA levels with antiviral therapy at 12 weeks, 24 weeks, 48 weeks and 96 weeks . Receiver operating characteristic analyses was used to determine baseline and and on-treatment HBV RNA levels associated with response. Result: The serum HBV pgRNA levels at 12, 24, 48, and 96 weeks after treatment were (5.11 ± 0.76) log 10 IU/ml, (4.56 ± 0.43) log 10 IU/ml, (3.22 ± 0.36) log 10 IU/ml, and (1.54 ± 0.22) log 10 IU/ml, respectively; The levels of HBV DNA in HBeAg positive CHB patients at different stages were (5.01 ± 0.84) log 10 IU/ml, (4.73±0.52) log 10 IU/ml, (3.38 ± 0.52) log 10 IU/ml, and (1.32 ± 0.35) log 10 IU/ml, respectively. The serum HBV pgRNA and HBV DNA levels were all lower than before treatment, and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05); significant serum conversion occurred in HBeAg positive patients at 24 weeks that HBeAg positive rate of 71.11%, HBV pgRNA positive rate of 69.63%, and HBV DNA positive rate of 36.30% after antiviral therapy. The sensitivity and specificity of serum HBV pgRNA in predicting serum HBeAg seroconversion were 89.20% and 80.95%, which were higher than those of serum HBV DNA at 67.96% and 67.92%. Conclusion: Serum HBV pgRNA and HBV DNA levels in HBeAg positive CHB patients were gradually decreased with the prolongation of antiviral treatment time. Both may serve as a certain guiding role in antiviral treatment of CHB patients, but the predictive value of HBV pgRNA is higher than HBVDNA in the seroconversion of HBeAg-positive CHB patients.

KEYWORDS

Hepatitis B virus pregenomic RNA; Hepatitis B e antigens; Chronic hepatitis B; Antiviral therapy

CITE THIS PAPER

Jun Tian, Zheng Zhou, HuaLing Tan, Ke Wang. HBV RNA as a predictor of HBeAg seroconversion in patients with hepatitis B. World Journal of Clinical Sciences. 2024, 2(2): 37-40. DOI: 10.61784/wjcs3006.

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