The Degrees of Hepatocyte Cytoplasmic Expression of Hepatitis B Core Antigen correlate with Histologic Activity of Liver Disease in the Young Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection

Subcellular localizaton of HBcAg have been found to be related to the activity of liver disease and HBV replication. The aim of this study was to determine whether the degree of expression of HBcAg in the hepatocyte nucleus and cytoplasm reflects the level of viral replication and histological activity in chronic HBV infection. A total of 102 patients with biopsy proven chronic hepatitis B were included. There was a highly significant correlation between the levels of HBV DNA in serum and the degree of expression of HBcAg in the nucleus for HBeAg-positive(p=0.000) and negative patients(p=0.04). There was a highly significant, correlation between the degrees of expression of HBcAg in hepatocyte cytoplasm and histologic activities (p<0.01) for HBeAg-positive patients. The degrees of expression of HBcAg in the hepatocyte cytoplasm correlated positively with the lobular activities (p<0.01), but not correlated with the portal activity and fibrosis for HBeAg-negative patients. In conclusion, in the young patients with chronic B viral hepatitis, the degree of expression of HBcAg in the hepatocyte nucleus may affect viral load, and the degree of expression of HBcAg in the hepatocyte cytoplasm may affect histologic activities of liver disease.

Relevancy between Liver Injury, Serum HBV-DNA, and Intrahepatic HBcAg in Young Male Chronic HBV Carriers / 대한소화기학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although the viral load is correlated with HBcAg, liver injury was not correlated to viral load in HBeAg positive patient. We aimed to study the inter-relationship of clinical parameters such as the level of HBV-DNA, the level of aminotransferase, intrahepatic expression of HBcAg and severity of histological liver damage in the young male chronic HBV carriers according to HBeAg status. METHODS: The study group included 85 young male patients (mean age: 19.8) with biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis B (HBeAg-positive group: n=60, HBeAg-negative group: n=25). RESUTLS: Serum levels of HBV-DNA and the expression of intrahepatic HBcAg in the HBeAg-positive group were significantly higher than in the HBeAg-negative (p<0.001), but fibrosis score was lower (p<0.01). Serum levels of HBV-DNA positively correlated with lobular activity, portal/periportal activity, biochemical activities in the HBeAg-negative group but negatively correlated in the HBeAg-positive group. There were no significant differences in histological activity according to the pattern of expression of intrahepatic HBcAg in both groups. The lobular activity correlated positively with biochemical activity in both groups, and portal/periportal activity correlated with biochemical activity only in the HBeAg-positive group. CONCLUSIONS: There are close correlations among liver injury, intrahepatic expression of HBcAg, and detectable HBV-DNA in the young male chronic HBV carriers with HBeAg-negativity, but in the HBeAg-positive group, the correlations are diversified.