ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the correlation of HBV DNA level with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of HBV-associated glomerulonephritis ( HBV-GN ) .Methods One hundred and two patients with HBV-GN admitted in Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University during January 2009 and October 2012 were successively enrolled.Fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the serum titer of HBV DNA.According to HBV DNA levels the patients were divided into three groups:low-replication group (HBV DNA 105 copies/mL) .Renal biopsy was performed to determine the pathological type, and immunofluorescence assay was used for quantitative detection of HBV related antigens ( HBsAg, HBcAg and HBeAg ) in kidney. All patients received lamivudine (100 mg/d) plus adefovir dipivoxil (10 mg/d) combination therapy and followed up for 18 months.The renal function, biochemical and immunological indexes before and after the treatment were measured.One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the differences of above parameters among patients in three groups.Spearman correlation coefficient was used for correlation analysis between HBV DNA level and pathological stages in kidney.Results There were 20 patients in low-replication group, 51 in moderate-replication group and 31 in high-replication group.With the increase of serum level of HBV DNA, 24-h urine protein excretion, plasma cholesterol, and triglycerides increased (F=34.64, 40.10 and 31.72, P0.05);no change in creatinine was found (t =0.14, 0.52 and 0.57, P >0.05).After 18-month treatment, clinical remission rates in three groups were 95.0% ( 19/20 ) , 70.6% ( 36/51 ) and 54.8%(17/31), respectively.The clinical remission rate was significantly lower in the high-replication group as compared with that in low-replication group (χ2 =9.44, P<0.01).Conclusion Serum level of HBV DNA is closely correlated with renal function, renal pathology and clinical remission rate in HBV-GN patients, which may be used for the evaluation of kidney biopsy, treatment and prognosis in patients with HBV-GN.