Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Maurizia R. Brunetto, Ivana Carey, Benjamin Maasoumy, Cristina Marcos-Fosch, Andre Boonstra, Gian Paolo Caviglia, Alessandro Loglio, Daniela Cavallone, Caroline Scholtes, Gabriele Ricco, Antonina Smedile, Mar Riveiro-Barciela, Florian van Bommel, Annemiek van Der Eijk, Fabien Zoulim, Thomas Berg, Markus Cornberg, Pietro Lampertico, Kosh Agarwal, Maria Buti
Summary: The study evaluated the diagnostic value of HBcrAg assay for distinguishing between HBeAg-negative infection (ENI) and chronic hepatitis B (CHB), demonstrating high diagnostic performance in accurately identifying CHB patients independently of HBV genotype.
ALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS
(2021)
Review
Immunology
Amir M. Mohareb, Anne F. Liu, Arthur Y. Kim, Patrick A. Coffie, Menan Gerard Kouame, Kenneth A. Freedberg, Anders Boyd, Emily P. Hyle
Summary: Spontaneous loss of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) occurs at a rate of 6.46/100 person-years (PYs) among untreated individuals with chronic HBV. The incidence rate of spontaneous HBeAg loss varies by age and geographic region.
JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Article
Virology
Danny Ka-Ho Wong, Takako Inoue, Lung-Yi Mak, Rex Wan-Hin Hui, James Fung, Ka-Shing Cheung, Wai-Kay Seto, Yasuhito Tanaka, Man-Fung Yuen
Summary: This study evaluated the usefulness of two novel assays, the iTACT-HBsAg and iTACT-HBcrAg assays, in CHB patients with HBsAg seroclearance (SC). The results showed that over 70% of patients still had a low level of HBV protein expression even at 10 years after SC, indicating that CHB patients with SC still harbor a low level of HBV. Further investigations are needed to determine the clinical significance of detectable viral proteins after SC.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL VIROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Virology
Ming-hui Li, Yao Lu, Fang-fang Sun, Qi-qi Chen, Lu Zhang, Hui-hui Lu, Zhan Zeng, Wei Yi, Yao Xie
Summary: The study investigated the association between immune-cell-related cytokines and the development of chronic hepatitis B. Patients in different phases of the infection showed significant differences in various indicators and cytokine levels, with TGF-beta being identified as potentially having an independent association with the occurrence of CHB.
ARCHIVES OF VIROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Yanqin Du, Olympia E. Anastasiou, Benedikt Strunz, Janina Scheuten, Birgit Bremer, Anke Kraft, Karolina Kleinsimglinhaus, Daniel Todt, Ruth Broering, Matthias Hardtke-Wolenski, Jun Wu, Dongliang Yang, Ulf Dittmer, Mengji Lu, Markus Cornberg, Niklas K. Bjorkstrom, Tanvi Khera, Heiner Wedemeyer
Summary: The study assessed the effects of HBsAg quantities on NK cell functionality in CHB patients, finding a reshaping of the NK cell pool towards more CD56(bright) NK cells during infection. Patients with low HBsAg levels displayed an activated NK cell phenotype with defective functional responses.
LIVER INTERNATIONAL
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Zhanqing Zhang, Wei Lu, Dong Zeng, Dan Huang, Weijia Lin, Li Yan, Yanling Feng
Summary: Quantitative HBsAg is more valuable than HBV DNA in predicting significant hepatitis activity of HBeAg-positive chronic HBV infection, with higher sensitivity and specificity levels.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Zhanqing Zhang, Wei Lu, Dan Huang, Xinlan Zhou, Rongrong Ding, Xiufen Li, Yanbing Wang, Weijia Lin, Dong Zeng, Yanling Feng
Summary: This study re-characterized the quantitative levels of HBsAg and HBV DNA in the natural history phases of chronic HBV infection. The results showed that HBsAg and HBV DNA had divergent abilities in predicting significant hepatitis activity in both HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative patients.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Virology
Meng-Lan Wang, Juan Liao, Feng Ye, Ya-Chao Tao, Dong-Bo Wu, Min He, Hong Tang, En-Qiang Chen
Summary: This study found strong correlation between serum HBV pgRNA and HBcrAg levels in Chinese chronic hepatitis B patients, with moderate correlation with HBV DNA and HBsAg. Differences in serum HBV pgRNA levels and correlations were observed between HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative patients, with HBcrAg showing the most stable correlation with HBV pgRNA.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Zhan-qing Zhang, Bi-sheng Shi, Wei Lu, Dan Huang, Yan-bing Wang, Yan-ling Feng
Summary: This study evaluated the clinical value of commercially available quantitative HBV markers for predicting different phases of chronic HBV infection. The results demonstrated that HBsAg and anti-HBc are reliable markers for predicting active hepatitis, while HBcrAg and HBV DNA are preferred markers for predicting inactive hepatitis. The established models MEPAH and MENAH have good performance in predicting the respective phases of hepatitis.
JOURNAL OF VIROLOGICAL METHODS
(2021)
Review
Immunology
Shuling Wu, Wei Yi, Yuanjiao Gao, Wen Deng, Xiaoyue Bi, Yanjie Lin, Liu Yang, Yao Lu, Ruyu Liu, Min Chang, Ge Shen, Leiping Hu, Lu Zhang, Minghui Li, Yao Xie
Summary: Functional cure is considered achieved when chronic hepatitis B patients achieve HBsAg seroclearance after treatment. Clearing the virus is challenging due to the difficulty in clearing both cccDNA and integrated dslDNA. High levels of HBsAg in the serum lead to immune system failure, making it unable to produce an effective antiviral response. Only less than 1% of chronic hepatitis B patients are cured annually with antiviral treatment. Coinfection with other viruses such as HIV, HCV, and HDV makes it even more difficult to cure. However, it has been found that patients with coinfection have a higher probability of achieving HBsAg seroclearance, especially those with HBV/HIV coinfection with up to 36% 5-year seroclerance rate. This interesting phenomenon is related to the functional reconstruction of the immune system after antiretroviral therapy (ART).
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Minghui Li, Luxue Zhang, Si Xie, Fangfang Sun, Zhan Zeng, Wen Deng, Tingting Jiang, Xiaoyue Bi, Yanjie Lin, Liu Yang, Yao Lu, Ge Shen, Ruyu Liu, Shuling Wu, Min Chang, Leiping Hu, Jianping Dong, Wei Yi, Yao Xie
Summary: This study investigated the dynamic changes of cytokines and virological markers during HBsAg loss, and found that these changes were associated with the efficacy of PEG-IFN alpha-2a treatment in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Virology
Takanori Suzuki, Kentaro Matsuura, Takehisa Watanabe, Takeshi Matsui, Shintaro Ogawa, Hayato Kawamura, Kayoko Kuno, Kei Fujiwara, Shunsuke Nojiri, Hiromi Kataoka, Yasuhito Tanaka
Summary: Two novel assays, iTACT-HBcrAg and iTACT-HBsAg, have been developed to investigate the longitudinal profiles of these antigens in HBsAg seroclearance patients. The presence of HBcrAg may contribute to the progression of chronic hepatitis B.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Haiyang Hu, Yangfan Shen, Ming Hu, Yang Zheng, Kaijin Xu, Lanjuan Li
Summary: This study found that the incidence rate of new hepatitis B infections in Tongxiang was 571.38 per 100,000 person-years, with males and older individuals having a higher infection rate. Factors such as female gender, alcohol drinking history, hepatitis family history, and middle-age group were identified as predictors for persistent positive HBsAg status.
FRONTIERS IN MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Chun-Jen Liu, I-Shyan Sheen, Chi-Yi Chen, Wan-Long Chuang, Horng-Yuan Wang, Kuo-Chih Tseng, Ting-Tsung Chang, Jenny Yang, Benedetta Massetto, Vithika Suri, Gregory Camus, Deyuan Jiang, Fangqiu Zhang, Anuj Gaggar, Tsung-Hui Hu, Yu-Chun Hsu, Gin-Ho Lo, Chi-Jen Chu, Jyh-Jou Chen, Cheng-Yuan Peng, Rong-Nan Chien, Pei-Jer Chen
Summary: This study analyzed the reactivation of hepatitis B in 111 Taiwanese patients coinfected with hepatitis C during hepatitis C treatment. In most patients, hepatitis B virologic reactivation was asymptomatic; only a small proportion initiated hepatitis B treatment.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
I-Chin Wu, Wen-Chun Liu, Yen-Cheng Chiu, Hung-Chih Chiu, Pin-Nan Cheng, Ting-Tsung Chang
Summary: Serum HBV pgRNA kinetics during treatment and around HBsAg loss show varied patterns, with most patients maintaining detectable levels of pgRNA even after achieving HBsAg loss. Baseline serum HBV pgRNA alone is insufficient for predicting the trajectory of HBV pgRNA. Further studies on HBV pgRNA kinetics around HBsAg loss would provide valuable insights for future applications of HBV pgRNA.
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Hannah S. J. Choi, Grishma Hirode, Chien-Hung Chen, Tung-Hung Su, Wai-Kay Seto, Stijn Van Hees, Margarita Papatheodoridi, Sabela Lens, Grace L. H. Wong, Sylvia M. Brakenhoff, Rong-Nan Chien, Jordan J. Feld, Milan J. Sonneveld, Henry L. Y. Chan, Xavier Forns, George Papatheodoridis, Thomas Vanwolleghem, Man-Fung Yuen, Yao-Chun Hsu, Jia-Horn Kao, Markus Cornberg, Bettina E. Hansen, Wen-Jue Jeng, Harry L. A. Janssen
Summary: This study compared the relapse rates and treatment outcomes after discontinuation of therapy in chronic hepatitis B patients using entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF). It found that TDF was associated with a higher rate of HBsAg loss, earlier virological relapse, and higher clinical relapse compared to ETV. However, the rates of HBsAg loss and retreatment were similar between the two treatment groups. Finite therapy can be considered for CHB patients on either TDF or ETV therapy.
CLINICAL GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Huapeng Lin, Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Xinrong Zhang, Guanlin Li, Yee-Kit Tse, Vicki Wing-Ki Hui, Lilian Yan Liang, Jimmy Che-To Lai, Stephen Lam Chan, Henry Lik-Yuen Chan, Grace Lai-Hung Wong, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong
Summary: The relative importance of liver-related death increases with age in patients with NAFLD, especially among women.
Article
Immunology
Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Grace Chung-Yan Lui, Mandy Sze-Man Lai, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Yee-Kit Tse, Bosco Hon-Ming Ma, Elsie Hui, Maria K. W. Leung, Henry Lik-Yuen Chan, David Shu-Cheong Hui, Grace Lai-Hung Wong
Summary: A study on community patients in Hong Kong found that the use of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir was associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization, while molnupiravir did not show this effect.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2023)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Rohit Loomba, Daniel Q. Huang, Arun J. Sanyal, Quentin Mark Anstee, Michael Trauner, Eric J. Lawitz, Dora Ding, Lily Ma, Catherine Jia, Andrew Billin, Ryan S. Huss, Chuhan Chung, Zachary Goodman, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Takeshi Okanoue, Manuel Romero-Gomez, Manal F. Abdelmalek, Andrew Muir, Nezam Afdhal, Jaime Bosch, Stephen Harrison, Zobair M. Younossi, Robert P. Myers
Summary: In patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), liver stiffness (LS) measured by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) can predict the progression of cirrhosis and the risk of liver decompensation.
Review
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Eduardo Vilar-Gomez, Salvatore Petta, Yusuf Yilmaz, Grace Lai-Hung Wong, Leon A. Adams, Victor de Ledinghen, Silvia Sookoian, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong
Summary: NAFLD has become a major public health problem with diverse disease burden across geographical areas and ethnicities. The associated comorbidities and complications have a significant impact on patients' quality of life, healthcare systems, and economy.
Editorial Material
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Grace Lai-Hung Wong
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Arun J. Sanyal, Julie Foucquier, Zobair M. Younossi, Stephen A. Harrison, Philip N. Newsome, Wah-Kheong Chan, Yusuf Yilmaz, Victor De Ledinghen, Charlotte Costentin, Ming-Hua Zheng, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Magdy Elkhashab, Ryan S. Huss, Robert P. Myers, Marine Roux, Aymeric Labourdette, Marie Destro, Celine Fournier-Poizat, Veronique Miette, Laurent Sandrin, Jerome Boursier
Summary: This study aims to develop and validate two new scoring systems (Agile 4 and Agile 3+) to accurately identify cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis among individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) attending liver clinics. The results showed that these two novel non-invasive scores outperformed existing scoring systems in identifying cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis and reduced the need for liver biopsy.
JOURNAL OF HEPATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Mandy Sze -Man Lai, Jimmy Che-To Lai, Vicki Wing-Ki Hui, Lilian Yan Liang, Yee-Kit Tse, Henry Lik-Yuen Chan, Grace Lai -Hung Wong
Summary: We investigated the long-term incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatic decompensation among chronic hepatitis B patients who have achieved hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearance. The study found that the proportion of patients who developed HCC after HBsAg clearance was 1.1%, while the proportion of patients who developed hepatic decompensation was 1.3%. HBsAg clearance for over 7 years was associated with a reduced risk of hepatic decompensation but not HCC.
JOURNAL OF HEPATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Won-Mook Choi, Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Grace Lai-Hung Wong, W. Ray Kim, Leland J. Yee, Craig Brooks-Rooney, Tristan Curteis, Harriet Cant, Chien-Hung Chen, Chi-Yi Chen, Yi-Hsiang Huang, Young-Joo Jin, Dae Won Jun, Jin-Woo Kim, Neung Hwa Park, Cheng-Yuan Peng, Hyun Phil Shin, Woo Shin, Yao-Hsu Yang, Young-Suk Lim
Summary: This study compared the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients receiving tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) versus entecavir (ETV) treatment. The results showed that patients receiving TDF had a significantly lower HCC risk, especially those with HBeAg positivity.
JOURNAL OF HEPATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Oncology
Claudia Wing-Kwan Wu, Rashid Nok-Shun Lui, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Tsz-Fai Yam, Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Ken Liu, Jimmy Che-To Lai, Yee-Kit Tse, Tony Shu-Kam Mok, Henry Lik-Yuen Chan, Kelvin Kwok-Chai Ng, Grace Lai-Hung Wong, Stephen Lam Chan
Summary: The study successfully validated the efficacy of the Baveno VII criteria in predicting high-risk varices in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, providing a non-invasive method for assessing the risk of variceal bleeding and hepatic decompensation.
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Vicki Wing-Ki Hui, Grace Lai -Hung Wong, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Henry Lik-Yuen Chan, Jimmy Che-To Lai, Mandy Sze -Man Lai, Tsz-Fai Yam, Dongrong Li, Xiaodan Fan, Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip
Summary: This study evaluates the transplant-free survival of patients with cirrhosis in three different stages. The results suggest that patients in the recompensated group have similar transplant-free survival compared to those in the compensated group.
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Johnny T. K. Cheung, Xinrong Zhang, Grace Lai-Hung Wong, Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Huapeng Lin, Guanlin Li, Howard Ho-Wai Leung, Jimmy Che-To Lai, Sanjiv Mahadeva, Nik Raihan Nik Mustapha, Xiao-Dong Wang, Wen-Yue Liu, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Wah-Kheong Chan, Ming-Hua Zheng
Summary: We developed and validated the MAFLD fibrosis score (MFS) for identifying advanced fibrosis in MAFLD patients. MFS was composed of seven variables and outperformed conventional non-invasive scores in predicting advanced fibrosis.
ALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS
(2023)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Gong Feng, Luca Valenti, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong, Yasser Mahrous Fouad, Yusuf Yilmaz, Won Kim, Giada Sebastiani, Zobair M. Younossi, Virginia Hernandez-Gea, Ming-Hua Zheng
Summary: This article discusses the importance of recompensation in the field of cirrhosis, particularly in NAFLD-related cirrhosis. It provides an up-to-date perspective on the natural history of NAFLD, emphasizing its reversible nature, and discusses the mechanisms and challenges of recompensation, as well as outlining future research directions.
NATURE REVIEWS GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Terry Cheuk-Fung Yip, Wayne Yau-Wang Hui, Wilfred Wang-Fung Ho, Zackary Kwun-Lam Tsang, Tsz-Fai Yam, Mandy Sze-Man Lai, Yee-Kit Tse, Henry Lik-Yuen Chan, Grace Lai-Hung Wong, Vincent Wai-Sun Wong