The correlation between hepatitis B virus DNA replication and large envelope protein in serum

Objective To study the significance of serum hepatitis B virus large envelope protein(HBV-LP), HBV DNA and HBeAg in the diagnosis of viral replication. Methods In 623 chronic HBV patients, HBV-LP and HBeAg were detected by ELISA and HBV DNA was quantitaively detected by realtime polymerase chain reaction(PCR). Results The positive rate of HBV-LP and HBV DNA were higher than that of HBeAg in all chronic HBV patients(χ2=22.3 and 9.4, P 0.05), The positive rate of HBV-LP and HBV DNA detected in HBeAg(+) or HBeAg(-) were not significantly different(χ2=3.2 and 0.6, P >0.05). HBV DNA copies and A vaule of HBV-LP was a positive correlation(r=0.874, P <0.01), HBV DNA copies of different groups was significantly different from HBV-LP A values(F=6.987, P <0.01). In 100 healthy people, the detecting results of HBV DNA and HBV-LP are negetive. Conclusion HBV-LP was better than HBeAg for detection of HBV replication.There is a good correlation between the copies of HBV DNA and the levels of HBV-LP, HBV-LP expression can reflect the replication of HBV. Key words: Hepatitis B virus; Viral envelope proteins; DNA; Hepatitis B virus e antigen