The relationship between the genotype of hepatitis B virus and clinical and liver pathological features of infected patients in the Zhoushan Islands, China / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between the genotypes of hepatitis B virus and the clinical and liver pathological features of patients with chronic hepatitis in the Zhoushan Islands.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred eighty HBV DNA positive chronic hepatitis patients with HBV markers were enrolled in this study. They were at least second generation Zhoushan Island residents. One hundred forty-seven of them were males and 33 were females with an average age of 39.0+/-11.3. Among the 180 patients, 17 had ASC, 57 had mild CHB, 48 moderate CHB, 9 severe CHB, 6 SHB, 39 LC, and 4 had HCC. The genotypes of their serum HBV were detected by using PCR integrated with Tagman MGB probe technology, and their serum HBV markers, HBV DNA and liver functions were also examined. Out of 180 patients, 129 accepted a liver biopsy. A pathological evaluation was then performed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>HBVs of genotype C, 135 cases (75.0%), of B, 40 cases (22.2%), and of B+C, 5 cases (2.8%) were found among these 180 patients. No genotype A or D HBV were found. The proportions of genotype C virus were 7/17, 86/114, 34/39, 6/6 in ASC, CHB, LC and SHB patients. In the hepatocellular carcinoma patients, there were 2 each of genotype B and C. Among the 99 patients with genotype C HBV, 84 cases (84.8%) showed moderate and severe inflammation histologically in their livers and among the 30 patients with B, 7 cases (23.3%) showed moderate to severe inflammation in their livers (z = 6.47, P less than 0.01). The proportion of genotype C HBV was significantly different from that of genotype B HBV in those that showed moderate and severe (S3-4) liver fibrosis. In patients infected with genotype C HBV who had moderate and severe liver pathological changes, their clinical manifestations reflected better the histological alterations of their livers.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Genotypes C, B and B+C HBV were found in CHB patients in the Zhoushan Islands of China, and type C was the predominant one. The liver pathological damage level of genotype C HBV infected patients is more serious than that of genotype B.</p>

A quantitative study of the relationship between levels of liver fibrosis markers in sera and fibrosis stages of liver tissues of patients with chronic hepatic diseases / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To study the quantitative relationship between the levels of serum liver fibrosis markers and fibrosis stages of liver tissues in patients with chronic hepatic diseases.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In 118 patients with chronic hepatitis, fatty liver or cirrhosis, their Serum levels of LN, HA, PCIII and CIV were investigated by EIA and their liver histological changes were studied. The relationship between the levels of serum LN, HA, PCIII and CIV and the degrees of liver tissue fibrosis was analyzed quantitatively by using the SPSS11.0.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A correlation between the levels of serum LN, HA, PCIII and CIV and the histologically assessed grades of inflammatory activity was found (r = 0.394, 0.449, 0.443, 0.351, respectively, P <0.01). The correlation between the levels of serum LN, HA, PCIII and CIV and the histological assessed stages of liver fibrosis was strong (r = 0.456, 0.564, 0.476, 0.421 respectively, P <0.01). The levels of serum LN, HA, PCIII and CIV of the patients with a stage 2 liver fibrosis were 110 ng/ml, 110 ng/ml, 100 ng/ml and 70 ng/ml respectively, with sensibilities of diagnosing stage 2 liver fibrosis at 70%, 79%, 79% and 74% respectively. Their specificities in diagnosing stage 2 liver fibrosis were 68%, 72%, 64% and 73% respectively. The levels of LN, HA, PCIII and CIV in serum of these patients diagnosing cut-off value in stage 4 liver fibrosis (early cirrhosis) were 130 ng/ml, 140 ng/ml, 120 ng/ml and 70 ng/ml respectively. Their sensibility of diagnosing liver cirrhosis was 79%, 93%, 79% and 86% respectively. Their specificity of diagnosing liver cirrhosis was 66%, 82%, 72% and 61% respectively. As shown by the ROC curves in these patients, differentiating patients with cirrhosis or without cirrhosis, serum HA level was more valuable than LN, PCIII, CIV (the areas under the curves = 0.938 vs 0.775, 0.787, 0.791 ) When serum HA was higher than 190 ng/ml, the veracity of diagnosing liver cirrhosis was 93%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There is a certain quantitative relationship between the levels of LN, HA, PCIII and CIV in serum and the degrees of liver tissue fibrosis. The level of HA in serum is an important reference datum for early diagnosing liver cirrhosis.</p>