Study on correlation between HBV DNA load and content of HBV large envelope protein

Objective:To explore the correlation between the HBV DNA load and the content of HBV large envelope protein(HBV-LP) in chronic hepatitis B patients.Methods:Serum HBV DNA was quantitively detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR),and the HBV-LP and HBV-M were detected by time differentiate immunofluorescence assay in 307 serum samples collected from chronic hepatitis B patients.Results:Serum HBV-LP level was closely correlated with HBV DNA copies(r=0.943) in 307 cases.There was no significant difference between positive rate of HBV-LP and that of HBV DNA(P0.05) in 131 HBeAg-positive cases,the rates were 95.42% and 93.89%,respectively.The significant difference was neither found between positive rate of HBV-LP and that of HBV DNA(P0.05) in 176 HBeAg-negative cases,the rates were 46.02% and 56.25%,respectively.Conclusion:The level of serum HBV-LP can be used to reflect the state of HBV replication and it is better than HBeAg in sensitivity.So it may be used as a new serological marker to reflect the HBV replication.