Research Progress Of HBcrAg In Clinical Diagnosis And Treatment Of The Chronic Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B virus(HBV)infection continues to be a major public health issue worldwide.Chronic hepatitis B(CHB)can progress to cirrhosis,liver failure,and hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),which are the major causes of mortality in the world.Antiviral treatment can delay the progression of HBV infection,thus decrease the incidence of liver complications.There are five oral nucleot(s)ide analogs(NAs),and two kinds of interferon alpha(IFN-?)have been approved for treating chronic hepatitis B in China.Quantitation of intrahepatic HBV cccDNA is suggested to be important in evaluating antiviral therapeutic efficacy and estimating treatment endpoint.The major obstacle for quantitation of intrahepatic HBV cccDNA in clinic is the requirement for invasive liver biopsy.Therefore,finding serum surrogate makers of intrahepatic HBV cccDNA is clinically meaningful.Recent studies found that serum hepatitis B core-related antigen(HBcrAg)is a potential surrogate marker for intrahepatic HBV cccDNA.Serum HBcrAg is also helpful in predicting the response to antiviral therapy and the relapse after antiviral therapy,as wellas in predicting the disease progression to liver cirrhosis and the development and recurrence of HCC in CHB patients.