Methodology-dependent performance of serum HBV RNA in predicting treatment outcomes in chronic hepatitis B patients

作者：Liu, Shi; Wu, Yaobo; Deng, Rui; Shen, Sheng; Fan, Rong; Peng, Jie; Li, Wanying; Liang, Xieer; Hou, Jinlin; Sun, Jian^*; Zhou, Bin^*

来源：Antiviral Research, 2021, 189: 105037.

DOI：10.1016/j.antiviral.2021.105037

• HBV RNA
• Methodology-dependent
• Off-treatment relapse
• HBeAg loss

Background: Whether different serum HBV RNA detection assays can consistently predict treatment outcomes in patients with chronic hepatitis B remains controversial. @@@ Methods: We enrolled 188 patients who had stopped nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) (STOP cohort-1, -2) and 78 receiving entecavir (ETV) therapy (ETV cohort) and used double-target (targeting both 5' and 3' ends of the HBV pregenome RNA [DT-RNA]) and three single-target (targeting the S-region [S-RNA], X-region [X-RNA], and polyA tail of HBV RNA [PolyA-RNA]) assays to predict treatment outcomes. @@@ Results: In STOP cohorts, DT-RNA, S-RNA and X-RNA at NAs cessation showed higher predictive powers for clinical relapse (time-dependent areas under the curve [AUCs] for years 1, 2, 3, and 4 ranged between 0.724 and 0.772 in cohort-1, and between 0.741 and 0.824 in cohort-2) than the PolyA-RNA (AUCs between 0.604 and 0.611 in cohort-1; and between 0.530 and 0.584 in cohort-2). The predictive power for 2-year HBeAg loss of the four targeted RNAs in the ETV cohort at 6 months were similar (AUCs, 0.848, 0.838, 0.825, and 0.801), and superior to that of the HBV DNA level at 6 months (AUC, 0.721). @@@ Conclusion: The outcome prediction performance of serum HBV RNAs is methodology-dependent. PolyA-RNA detection was not recommended to predict off-treatment relapses.

• 单位
  南方医科大学