Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 7, 2015; 21(9): 2739-2745
Published online Mar 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i9.2739
Evaluation of changes of serum hepatitis B surface antigen from a different perspective
Ze-Qian Wu, Lei Tan, Ting Liu, Zhi-Liang Gao, Wei-Min Ke
Ze-Qian Wu, Zhi-Liang Gao, Wei-Min Ke, Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China
Ze-Qian Wu, Zhi-Liang Gao, Wei-Min Ke, Key Laboratory of Topical Disease Control, Sun Yat-sen University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China
Lei Tan, Department of Medical Ultrasonic, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China
Ting Liu, Department of Infectious Diseases, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Wu ZQ, Gao ZL and Ke WM contributed to the analysis and interpretation of data, drafting of the manuscript and approval of the final version of the manuscript; Tan L and Liu T contributed to the acquisition of data and critical revision of the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Wei-Min Ke, MD, Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Key Laboratory of Topical Disease Control, Sun Yat-sen University, Ministry of Education, Shipai Road, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China. tcl3626@gmail.com
Telephone: +86-20-85253171 Fax: +86-20-85252250
Received: June 16, 2014
Peer-review started: June 17, 2014
First decision: August 6, 2014
Revised: August 29, 2014
Accepted: December 5, 2014
Article in press: December 8, 2014
Published online: March 7, 2015
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the dynamic changes of serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels apportioned by the same hepatic parenchyma cell volume (HPCV), namely, hepatic cell quantities.

METHODS: Serum HBsAg levels were detected by electrochemiluminescence and serum HBsAg levels apportioned by the same HPCV were figured out according to the theory of sphere geometry. HBsAg levels were compared among different liver inflammation grades, as well as different hepatic fibrosis stages.

RESULTS: In hepatitis B e antigen-negative chronic hepatitis B, serum HBsAg levels in liver histological inflammation grades 1-4 were 3.66 ± 0.40, 3.74 ± 0.35, 3.74 ± 0.26 and 3.71 ± 0.34 log10 COI (cut off index), respectively, and there were no differences before apportion (P = 0.640). Serum HBsAg levels apportioned by the same HPCV were 5.57 ± 0.62, 5.98 ± 0.65, 6.59 ± 0.50 and 6.81 ± 0.84 log10 COI, respectively, and there were significant differences after apportion (P < 0.001). Serum HBsAg levels in hepatic fibrosis stages I-IV were 3.66 ± 0.43, 3.75 ± 0.33, 3.71 ± 0.28 and 3.75 ± 0.26 log10 COI, respectively, and there were no differences before apportion (P = 0.513). Serum HBsAg levels apportioned by the same HPCV were 5.53 ± 0.66, 5.98 ± 0.53, 6.29 ± 0.46 and 7.06 ± 0.48 log10 COI, respectively, and there were significant differences after apportion (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Serum HBsAg levels apportioned by the same HPCV (hepatic cell quantities), rather than serum HBsAg levels, increase with liver inflammation grades and hepatic fibrosis stages.

Keywords: Serum hepatitis B surface antigen, Chronic hepatitis B, Hepatic parenchyma cell quantities, Liver inflammation grades, Hepatic fibrosis stages

Core tip: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative chronic hepatitis B patients always feature increasing liver fibrosis and decreasing hepatic parenchyma cells. Does it influence the circulating HBsAg released into the serum? It requires research on the condition that the impact of fibrous volume on hepatic cell quantities should be deducted. It turns out that there were significant differences in serum HBsAg levels apportioned by the same hepatic cell quantities among different liver histological inflammation grades, as well as different hepatic fibrosis stages. In conclusion, although hepatitis B virus replication place - hepatic cell quantities - were shrinking while fibrosis progresses, its replication and expression became more active rather than declined or silenced.