. 2009 Jul 7;15(25):3099–3105. doi: 10.3748/wjg.15.3099

Table 1.

Characteristics of chronic hepatitis B at different stages

Phase	ALT	HBsAg	HBeAg	HBeAb	HBV DNA (IU/mL)	Th cell biased	Liver histology
Immune tolerance	Usually normal	Present	Present	Absent	≥ 20 000	Th₂ cell	Normal or mild inflammation
Immune clearance	Elevated	Present	Present	Absent	≥ 20 000	Th₂/Th₁ cell	Active inflammation
Inactive HBsAg carrier	Usually normal; can have flares	Present	Absent	Present	> 20 000	Th₁ cell	Mild inflammation or inactive cirrhosis
HBeAg- CHB	Perioid flares	Present	Absent	Present	> 20 000	Th₁ cell	Active inflammation
					< 20 000
Occult hepatitis B	Rarely elevated	Absent	Absent	Present when HBV recovered	< 20 000	Th₁ cell	From normal to cirrhosis HCC