Literature Information
PubMed PMID
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27453547
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Published year
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2016 |
Journal
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Gastroenterology |
Title
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HBV DNA Integration and Clonal Hepatocyte Expansion in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients Considered Immune Tolerant. |
Author
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Mason WS,Gill US,Litwin S,Zhou Y,Peri S,Pop O,Hong ML,Naik S,Quaglia A,Bertoletti A,Kennedy PT |
Evidence
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We examined HBV-DNA integration, clonal hepatocyte expansion, HBV antigen expression, and HBV-specific immune responses in patients in the immune-tolerant phase to assess whether this designation is appropriate or if there is evidence of disease activity. METHODS: We studied HBV-DNA integration, clonal hepatocyte expansion, and expression of hepatitis B surface antigen and core antigen in liver tissues from 26 patients with chronic HBV infection (ages, 14-39 y); 9 patients were positive for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) in the immune-tolerant phase and were matched for age with 10 HBeAg-positive patients with active disease and 7 HBeAg-negative patients with active disease. However, unexpectedly high numbers of HBV-DNA integrations, randomly distributed among chromosomes, were detected in all groups. CONCLUSIONS: We measured HBV-specific T cells, HBV-DNA integration, and clonal hepatocyte expansion in different disease phases of young patients with chronic hepatitis B, with emphasis on the so-called immune-tolerant phase. A high level of HBV-DNA integration and clonal hepatocyte expansion in patients considered immune tolerant indicated that hepatocarcinogenesis could be underway-even in patients with early stage chronic HBV infection.
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