Correlation between HBV large protein and HBV replication in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Objective To investigate the correlation of serum hepatitis B virus large protein (HBV-LP), HBV-DNA, and Pre S1 antigen (Pre S1-Ag) with HBV replication. Methods Serum samples were collected from 650 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who were treated in Beijing Friendship Hospital from March 2017 to March 2019. Serum HBV-LP and Pre S1-Ag were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). HBV markers (HBV-M) were measured using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA). Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect HBV-DNA. The positive detection rates of HBV-DNA, HBV-LP and Pre S1-Ag were calculated and compared, and the correlation of HBV-LP (S/CO value) and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg, log10 IU/ml) with HBV-DNA(log10 IU/ml)was analyzed. Results In the 650 CHB patients, the positive rates of HBV-DNA, HBV-LP and Pre S1-Ag were 65.4% (425/650), 79.2% (515/650) and 43.1% (280/650), respectively (P<0.01). The positive rates of HBV-DNA and HBV-LP in 243 HBeAg-positive patients were 93.0% (226/243) and 94.6% (230/243), and no significant difference was found between them (P=0.45). However, there was significant difference between the positive rates of HBV-DNA and HBV-LP in 407 patients negative for HBeAg [48.9% (199/407) vs 70.0% (285/407), P<0.01]. The positive rates of HBV-DNA and HBV-LP in HBsAg-, HBeAg- and HBcAb-positive groups were 92.8% (206/222) and 94.1% (209/222), which showed no significant difference (P=0.56). In HBsAg-, HBeAb- and HBcAb-positive groups, the positive rates of HBV-DNA and HBV-LP were 45.4% (124/273) and 69.9% (191/273) (P<0.01). The detection rate of HBeAg was lower than that of HBV-LP significantly in both HBV-DNA-positive and HBV-DNA-negative groups (P<0.01). With the increasing of HBV-DNA load, the S/CO value and the positive rate of HBV-LP increased significantly (P<0.05). Conclusions HBV-LP had a good correlation with HBV-DNA load as compared with Pre S1-Ag, HBeAg and HBsAg. HBV-LP in combination with HBV-M might be used as predictive markers that could efficiently reflect the status of HBV replication. Key words: Hepatitis B virus; DNA; Large protein; Pre S1 antigen; HBV markers