ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To detect hFgl2 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B and liver cancer and explore its association with the severity of chronic hepatitis B.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The protein expression of hFgl2 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was detected in 78 patients with chronic hepatitis B (including mild, moderate, or severe cases), chronic severe hepatitis, or liver cancer, with 20 healthy volunteers as controls. The data were analyzed in comparison with the patients' alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and total bilirubin (TBiL and) levels.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>hFgl2 protein expression was significantly higher in patients with chronic severe hepatitis and liver cancer than in the healthy volunteers and patients with chronic hepatitis B. The patients with chronic severe hepatitis had significantly higher hFgl2 protein expression than patients with liver cancer. In severe cases of chronic hepatitis B, hFgl2 protein expression was positively correlated with ALT, AST and TBiL, but these correlations were not found in mild or moderate cases.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Peripheral blood mononuclear cells express hFgl2 protein, whose expression level increases with the severity of chronic hepatitis B.</p>