Journal
JOURNAL OF THE FORMOSAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
Volume 116, Issue 9, Pages 697-704Publisher
ELSEVIER TAIWAN
DOI: 10.1016/j.jfma.2016.11.002
Keywords
hepatitis B; hepatitis C; occult hepatitis B
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Funding
- National Taiwan University
- Ministry of Science and Technology
- Ministry of Health and Welfare, Executive Yuan, Taiwan
- Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Medical Research, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan
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Background/Purpose: Occult hepatitis B infection (OHB) is not rare in countries that are endemic for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Notably, OHB has been shown to play a role in the progression of liver diseases, including the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the data is inconsistent. We aim to clarify the contribution of concurrent OHB to the progression of liver diseases in a long-term cohort of patients with HCV infection and to investigate the value of total anti-hepatitis B core (anti-HBc) antibody as a surrogate OHB biomarker. Methods: We included 250 chronic anti-HCV-positive patients who had resolved HBV infection (anti-HBc positive and hepatitis B surface antigen negative). OHB was then detected using a sensitive commercial assay for serum HBV DNA with a low limit of detection of 6 IU/mL. Clinical outcomes, including the development of liver cirrhosis, HCC, and all-cause deaths, were compared between OHB-positive and OHB-negative patients. Results: At baseline, only 183 (73.20%) patients had positive HCV ribonucleic acid, and 56 (30.60%) of these 183 patients with active HCV infection had OHB. The presence of OHB did not correlate with any adverse clinical outcome in multivariate analyses. In addition, chronic hepatitis C patients with OHB did not have a higher level of serum total anti-HBc. Conclusion: OHB infection may not contribute to the development of adverse liver outcomes in patients with chronic HCV. Copyright (C) 2016, Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC.
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