Clinical and virological investigation of occult hepatitis B virus infection in patients with autoimmune hepatitis

Abstract

Abstract: Objective To investigate the prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus(HBV) infection (OBI) in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) patients and to elucidate its virological characteristics. Methods From January 2015 to August 2022, A total of 69 patients with AIH admitted to hospital were selected, including 7 males and 62 females, aged 50 (30, 73) years. The diagnostic criteria for AIH were rigorously adhered to, meeting all established requirements. Comprehensive assays were performed to evaluate blood biochemical indices, serological markers, and autoantibodies, HBV DNA was isolated, and the S region (nucleotide sites: 84-205) was amplified using semi-nested PCR techniques to generate the target sequence. Following electrophoretic verification, the PCR products were recovered, purified, and sequenced. The resultant sequences were uploaded to the HBVseq database for nucleotide substitution analysis and genotyping. Results In our cohort of 69 AIH patients, the prevalence of OBI was 20.3%, with 14 positive and 55 negative cases. A statistically significant higher prevalence of HBcAb, HBsAb and HBeAb was noted among the OBI-positive cases (35.7%) compared to OBI-negative cases (12.7%) (P<0.05). However, no significant differences were observed in liver function, autoantibodies, or cirrhosis between the two groups (P>0.05). To explore the relationship between OBI status and HBV genotypic variations, we analyzed nucleotide substitution sites within the S region. Among the OBI-postive AIH cases, genotype B was present in 42.8% (6 cases), ad genotype C 57.2%(8cases Notably, the nucleotide substitution frequencies within the S region differed significantly between genotypes B(0.8%) and C(9.8%)(P<0.05). Calculated overall nucleotide substitution frequencies for the two groups were 0.1% and 1.2%, respectively, which was also statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion In our studu involving 68 AIH patients, a 20.3% prevalence of OBI is identified. Notably, the incidence of OBI in AIH patients- correlated significantly with nucleotide substitution or mutation within the S region of the HBV genome. These findings suggest that such genomic alterations may serve as clinically relevant predictive markers.

Key words: Autoimmune hepatitis, Occult HBV infection, Nucleotide-binding site

WANG Mei-juan, XIE Qun, WANG Hua-yu. Clinical and virological investigation of occult hepatitis B virus infection in patients with autoimmune hepatitis[J]. Chinese Hepatolgy, 2023, 28(10): 1215-1218.

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