Table 4.
Correlation of intrahepatic and serological markers with the occurrence of HBV DNA integration
| Patients’ characteristics | At least one integration event (n=14) | No integration events (n=26) | P value* |
| Serological parameters | |||
| Median serum ALT, U/L (IQR) | 41 (27–90) | 42 (28–67) | 0.9 |
| Median serum HBV DNA, logIU/mL (IQR) | 4.6 (3.6–5.6) | 3.7 (3.1–5.0) | 0.2 |
| Median serum HBsAg, logIU/mL (IQR) | 3.9 (3.8–4.2) | 3.2 (2.9–3.7) | <0.001 |
| Median serum HBcrAg, logU/mL (IQR) | 4.0 (3.9–4.5) | 4.5 (3.4–5.4) | 0.5 |
| Intrahepatic parameters | |||
| Median cccDNA (log copies/1000 cells) (IQR) | 2.4 (1.9–2.7) | 2.0 (1.0-2-6) | 0.17 |
| Median itHBV DNA (log copies/1000 cells) (IQR) | 3.6 (3.1–3.9) | 3.5 (2.7–4.0) | 0.6 |
| Median pgRNA (copies/1000 cells)† | 3.1 (1.9–226) | 4.5 (0.6–17) | 0.73 |
| Liver damage | |||
| Ishak fibrosis stage | |||
| 0–2 | 10 (32.3) | 21 (66.7) | 0.6 |
| 3–6 | 4 (44.4) | 5 (55.5) | |
*P values were determined by Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables and χ2 test for discrete variables.
†pgRNA levels were available for 21/40 patients analysed for HBV integration.
ALT, alanine aminotransferase; cccDNA, circular covalently closed DNA; HBcrAg, hepatitis B core-related antigen; HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen; itHBV DNA, intrahepatic total HBV DNA; pgRNA, pregenomic RNA.