Intestinal Microbiota Signature Associated With HBeAg Seroconversion After Oral Antiviral Therapy

Background and Aims:There is limited knowledge regarding the association between the composition of the intestinal microbiota and the efficacy of oral antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B(CHB).We collected information on the fecal microbiota of the patients with CHB and evaluated whether these were associated with the efficacy of oral antiviral therapy.Methods:We collected fecal samples from adult patients who had HBeAg positive CHB before oral antiviral therapy.In the participants of sample collection,28 subjects achieved HBeAg seroconversion in the first 3 years after the initiation of oral antiviral therapy while the other 24 subjects remained HBeAg positive even after over 3 years of therapy.At the same time,we collected 12 healthy controls.Collected fecal samples were analyzed by 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing.For each subject,we measured HBeAg,and Anti-HBeAg.The hepatitis B virus(HBV)DNA was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction.Numerical ecology analyses and a machine learning procedure were used to analyze the data.Results:By using classical approaches,we found no differences in the abundance or composition of fecal microbiota between the patients with HBeAg seroconversion vs who remained HBeAg positive.A computational statistical technique allowed us to reduce the complexity of 16S ribosomal DNA data into a microbial signature for HBeAg seroconversion,consisting of 7 bacterial operational taxonomic units.The microbial signature was able to discriminate between the patients who achieved HBeAg seroconversion,and the patients who remained HBeAg positive.Conclusion:In analyzing the fecal microbiota from patients with HBeAg seroconversion and those who remained HBeAg positive,we identified an intestinal microbiota profile that is associated with HBeAg seroconversion after oral antiviral therapy.