Correlation of Quantitative Assay of HBsAg and HBV DNA Levels During Chronic HBV Treatment

May 7, 2008

Correlation of Quantitative Assay of HBsAg and HBV DNA Levels During Chronic HBV

Treatment

Journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Publisher Springer Netherlands

ISSN 0163-2116 (Print) 1573-2568 (Online)

Category Original Paper

DOI 10.1007/s10620-008-0263-5

Subject Collection Medicine

SpringerLink Date Saturday, April 12, 2008

Resat Ozaras1 , Fehmi Tabak1, Veysel Tahan2, Recep Ozturk1, Hakan Akin2, Ali

Mert1 and Hakan Senturk3

(1) Department of Infectious Diseases, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul

University, 34098 Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey

(2) Department of Gastroenterology, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey

(3) Department of Internal Medicine, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul

University, Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey

Received: 22 December 2007 Accepted: 26 March 2008 Published online: 12 April

2008

Abstract Background and aim Viral load is used for the diagnosis and

monitoring the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). These methods are

molecular-based and are expensive. Previous studies suggest that quantitative

hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) studied by automated chemiluminescent

microparticle immunoassay can be a surrogate marker. In this study, we aimed to

investigate whether quantitative HBsAg correlates hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA

levels during CHB treatment. Methods The study included 18 patients (13 male, 5

female, mean age: 33 ± 9 years) with CHB. They were given pegylated interferon ±

lamivudine for 52 months and serum samples were obtained in weeks 0, 4, 8, 24,

48, 52, and 76. HBV DNA was measured by TaqMan polymerase chain reaction (PCR;

Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands). Quantitative

HBsAg was studied by automated chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay

(Architect HBsAg, Abbott, IL). Results HBV DNA levels were measured as follows:

9.66, 7.69, 7.06, 5.93, 5.89, 5.88, and 7.27 logarithmic genome equivalent/ml,

respectively. The corresponding HBsAg quantitation results were 42,888, 31,176,

37,882, 27,277, 28,279, 29,471, and 31,535 IU/ml, respectively. They showed a

significant correlation (canonical correlation = 0.85). Conclusions HBsAg

studied by automated chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay correlates with

HBV DNA and can be a surrogate marker during the monitoring of the efficacy of

HBV treatment.

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