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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2004, p. 3920-3924, Vol. 42, No. 9
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.9.3920-3924.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Detection of Intrahepatic Hepatitis B Virus DNA and Correlation with Hepatic Necroinflammation and Fibrosis

Danny Ka-Ho Wong,1,{dagger} Man-Fung Yuen,1,{dagger} Eric Tse,2 HeJun Yuan,1,3 Simon Siu-Man Sum,1 Chee-Kin Hui,1 and Ching-Lung Lai1*

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology,1 Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong,2 Department of Medicine, Fudan University, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai, People's Republic of China3

Received 23 June 2003/ Returned for modification 22 October 2003/ Accepted 27 March 2004

Assessment of intrahepatic hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B is important in understanding the natural history of the disease and designing antiviral therapy regimens. However, there is no standardized method for the measurement of intrahepatic HBV DNA levels. We describe a convenient novel method for the measurement of intrahepatic HBV DNA levels based on a modified COBAS Amplicor HBV Monitor test for HBV DNA measurement and real-time PCR ß-actin gene detection for human genomic DNA (hgDNA) quantitation. Fifteen hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients, 26 patients positive for antibody to HBeAg (anti-HBe), and 8 control patients were recruited. The mean between-run coefficient of variation for the ß-actin real-time PCR assay was 15.4%. All eight control patients had undetectable intrahepatic and serum HBV DNA levels. All chronic hepatitis B patients had detectable intrahepatic HBV DNA levels, and all but one anti-HBe-positive patient had detectable serum HBV DNA levels. HBeAg-positive patients had higher median intrahepatic and serum HBV DNA levels than anti-HBe-positive patients (6,950 versus 676 HBV DNA copies/ng of hgDNA, respectively [P < 0.001] and 184 x 106 versus 6.65 x 106 copies/ml, respectively [P < 0.001]). The intrahepatic HBV DNA levels correlated strongly with the serum HBV DNA levels (r = 0.842; P < 0.001) and with the degree of fibrosis (P = 0.014). We conclude that the method that we describe is reliable and convenient for the measurement of intrahepatic HBV DNA levels and has potential clinical significance.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam Rd., Hong Kong, China. Phone: (852) 28554252. Fax: (852) 28162863. E-mail: hrmelcl{at}hkucc.hku.hk.

{dagger} D.K.-H.W. and M.-F.Y. contributed equally to the study.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2004, p. 3920-3924, Vol. 42, No. 9
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.9.3920-3924.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Bayram, A, Erkilic, S, Ozkur, A, Bayram, M, Sari, I (2008). Quantification of intrahepatic total hepatitis B virus DNA in chronic hepatitis B patients and its relationship with liver histology. J. Clin. Pathol. 61: 338-342 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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