Abstract: Objective To investigate the impact of vitamin D deficiency on the clinical parameters of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Ninety-one hepatitis B patients including 14 cases of CHB, 44 cases of cirrhosis, 33 cases of HCC and 13 healthy controls were collected in this study. Vitamin D was determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with isotope dilution. Parameters such as T lymphocyte subsets, liver function and virological indexes were detected simultaneously. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to analysis the association between vitamin D levels and the clinical parameters. Results The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (defined as < 20 ng/mL) in the patients with liver cancer (96.97%) and cirrhosis (93.18%) was higher than that in the healthy controls (76.92%) and the patients with chronic hepatitis B (77.83%). The content of vitamin D in the healthy controls was 16.38±5.53 ng/mL, 15.06±4.91 ng/mL in the patients with chronic hepatitis B, 11.85±2.66 ng/mL in the patients with liver cirrhosis and 10.59±3.06 ng/mL in the patients with liver cancer. The Vitamin D levels were not different in these four groups in different seasons (P> 0.05). The vitamin D levels between the healthy control and the chronic hepatitis B groups, or between the cirrhosis and HCC groups were not different (P> 0.05). However, there was a significant difference in the vitamin D levels of the cirrhosis and HCC patients when compared with the healthy controls and the chronic hepatitis B patients (P<0.05), indicating that vitamin D levels were decreased in association with hepatitis B progression. There were also correlation between the Vitamin D levels with the clinical parameters of lymphocyte, hemoglobin, platelet, PTA, albumin, prealbumin, cholinesterase, T lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD3+ CD8+, CD45+), suggesting that vitamin D was associated with the synthesis and immune function of the livers. Conclusion Most of the patients with chronic hepatitis B viral infection have vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D may be involved in regulating immune function of hepatitis B patients, and its deficiency is associated with the clinical progression. These results may provide insight for the research and treatment of CHB.

Key words: Vitamin D, Chronic hepatitis B, Liver cirrhosis, Hepatocellular carcinoma