Investigation of the Association of Serum Quantitative HBsAg Levels with Viral Load in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients Receiving Treatment

Abstract

Purpose: The Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) test was only used for diagnosis of hepatitis B infection, whereas now there is growing evidence favoring utilization of serum HBsAg quantitation (qHBsAg) for monitoring of infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV). In our study, we examined the courses of qHBsAg and HBV-DNA levels throughout the treatment course of patients receiving treatment for chronic hepatitis B infection and evaluated their correlation with each other. Material and methods: The study was performed Ankara Training and Research Hospital. A total of 71 patients receiving treatment for the diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection were included in the study. Serum qHBsAg levels of these patients were analyzed with an Elecsys HBsAg II assay. Results: When we evaluated the correlation of serum qHBsAg levels with the HBV-DNA levels among patients treated with nucleotide analogues, there was a positive correlation. The decline in both parameters at sixth and 12-month follow-up was found to be statistically significant (qHBsAg decline at 6th month: p=0.03; qHBsAg decline at 12th month: p=0.001; HBV-DNA decline at 6th month: p=0.001; HBV-DNA decline at12th month: p=0.001). In the group of patients receiving PEG-IFN treatment, there was positive correlation between the two at the end of the treatment (p=0.01). Conclusion: : Our findings suggest that qHBsAg can be a very useful test when hbv-DNA levels are used together to separate inactive HBsAg carriers and KHB patients and may be used for both the treatment decision and monitoring of treatment. © 2020, Pamukkale University. All rights reserved.