Table 4.
Examples of Experimental Virologic and Host Markers and Endpoints
| Assay | Specimen | Measures | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virologic markers | |||
| Hepatitis B core– related antigen (q) | Blood | Denatured HBeAg, HBcAg, precore protein p22cr | [14, 17] |
| cccDNA (q) | Liver | Number of infected hepatocytes | [20] |
| Integrated DNA (q) | Blood | Infected cell number | [2] |
| HBV RNA | Blood | cccDNA amount of transcription | [22] |
| Host markers | |||
| PD1, Tim3, CTLA4 expression (q) on HBV-specific CD8 T cells by flow cytometry | PBMC | Exhaustion status of virus-specific T cells | [34] |
| CD127 on HBV- specific T cells by flow cytometry/ functional assays | Blood | Long-lived HBV-specific memory T cells | [27, 34] |
| Cytokines (q) | Blood | Inflammation | [27, 35] |
| HBsAg epitopes | PBMC | HBsAg clearance | [25] |
Abbreviations: cccDNA, covalently closed circular DNA; HBcAg, hepatitis B core antigen; HBeAg, hepatitis B e antigen; HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen; HBV, hepatitis B virus; PBMC, peripheral blood mononuclear cells; q, quantitative result; non-q, nonquantitative result.