Gastroenterology

Gastroenterology

Volume 133, Issue 3, September 2007, Pages 1031-1035
Gastroenterology

Editorial
The Natural History and the Staging of Chronic Hepatitis B: Time for Reevaluation of the Virus–Host Relationship Based on Molecular Virology and Immunopathogenesis Considerations?

https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2007.07.038Get rights and content

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  • Cited by (19)

    • Clinical Significance of Quantitative HBsAg Titres and its Correlation With HBV DNA Levels in the Natural History of Hepatitis B Virus Infection

      2016, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology
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      HBsAg level was important for interpretation of the phase of the HBV infection in untreated patients8–10 as well as treatment individualisation.11–13 In fact, HBV-infection has a complicated and dynamic natural history14,15 and was divided into four phases when acquired early in the life, based on evolution of the virus and host immune responses; immune tolerance phase (IT), immune clearance phase (IC), low-replicative phase (LR) and HBeAg negative hepatitis (ENH). All these phases were well characterised with biochemical, virological and demographic characteristics.13

    • HBsAg Level as Predictor of Liver Fibrosis in HBeAg Positive Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

      2015, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, the correlation of HBsAg level and HBV DNA was poor or missing when analyzing the different phases of chronic HBV-infection separately. This dissociation of HBV DNA and HBsAg level in different HBV-phases may reflect a disconnection due to integration of HBV into the host genome that provides a separate template for the production of HBsAg,28 or the cytokine dependent modification of viral replication pathways.29,30 We observed mean stage of fibrosis severity in HBeAg + ve patients was significantly higher compared with HBeAg negative patients and in patients with normal baseline ALT, 54.4% (16/30) and 24.8% (78/314) had moderate to advance (≥F2) fibrosis on liver biopsy in HBeAg + ve and HBeAg negative groups respectively.

    • HBsAg titers in the different phases of hepatitis B infection in Syrian patients

      2012, Journal of Clinical Virology
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, little is known about the HBsAg level in the different phases of HBV infection. Our current understanding of the natural history of HBV is that, when acquired early in life, HBV infection goes through 4 phases: immune tolerant (IT), immune clearance (IC), low replicative (LR) and HBeAg-negative {HBeAg (−)} hepatitis (ENH) CHB phases.10–12 These phases are well characterized with specific biochemical, virological and demographic criteria.10

    • Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels in the natural history of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infection: A European perspective

      2010, Journal of Hepatology
      Citation Excerpt :

      This is in agreement with variations in baseline HBsAg levels among HBV-infected patients observed in previous studies [10]. Indeed, persistent HBV-infection has a complex and dynamic natural history, as reviewed in [22–24], and can be divided into four phases based on the evolution of the virus and the host immune responses: immune tolerance phase (IT), immune clearance phase (IC), low-replicative phase (LR) and HBeAg(−) hepatitis (ENH). The impact of the natural course of HBV-infection is underappreciated in many studies investigating prognostic markers of anti-HBV treatment response.

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