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. 2004 Sep;42(9):3920-4.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.42.9.3920-3924.2004.

Detection of intrahepatic hepatitis B virus DNA and correlation with hepatic necroinflammation and fibrosis

Danny Ka-Ho Wong  1 , Man-Fung Yuen, Eric Tse, HeJun Yuan, Simon Siu-Man Sum, Chee-Kin Hui, Ching-Lung Lai
Affiliations

Detection of intrahepatic hepatitis B virus DNA and correlation with hepatic necroinflammation and fibrosis

Danny Ka-Ho Wong et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2004 Sep.

Abstract

Assessment of intrahepatic hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B is important in understanding the natural history of the disease and designing antiviral therapy regimens. However, there is no standardized method for the measurement of intrahepatic HBV DNA levels. We describe a convenient novel method for the measurement of intrahepatic HBV DNA levels based on a modified COBAS Amplicor HBV Monitor test for HBV DNA measurement and real-time PCR beta-actin gene detection for human genomic DNA (hgDNA) quantitation. Fifteen hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients, 26 patients positive for antibody to HBeAg (anti-HBe), and 8 control patients were recruited. The mean between-run coefficient of variation for the beta-actin real-time PCR assay was 15.4%. All eight control patients had undetectable intrahepatic and serum HBV DNA levels. All chronic hepatitis B patients had detectable intrahepatic HBV DNA levels, and all but one anti-HBe-positive patient had detectable serum HBV DNA levels. HBeAg-positive patients had higher median intrahepatic and serum HBV DNA levels than anti-HBe-positive patients (6,950 versus 676 HBV DNA copies/ng of hgDNA, respectively [P < 0.001] and 184 x 10(6) versus 6.65 x 10(6) copies/ml, respectively [P < 0.001]). The intrahepatic HBV DNA levels correlated strongly with the serum HBV DNA levels (r = 0.842; P < 0.001) and with the degree of fibrosis (P = 0.014). We conclude that the method that we describe is reliable and convenient for the measurement of intrahepatic HBV DNA levels and has potential clinical significance.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Correlation between serum and intrahepatic HBV DNA levels in chronic hepatitis B patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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