Contrary to current opinion, the disappearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) from the serum, the development of anti-HBs antibodies, and normalization of liver function may not reflect complete virological recovery from acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. By using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in the current study we demonstrate long-term persistence of HBV DNA in the serum...

BACKGROUND The major risk factor for perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and/or immunoprophylaxis failure is the level of maternal HBV-DNA. The aim of this study was to evaluate commonly used laboratory parameters in HBeAg-negative chronic HBV-infected pregnant women and to correlate the findings with the presence or absence of viremia. METHODS 166 consecutive chronic ...

BACKGROUND Reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV), characterized by increased levels of serum HBV DNA, abnormal liver function and hepatic failure, is a frequent complication of immunosuppressive therapy and chemotherapy in patients with HBV infection. However, reactivation of occult HBV infection with immunosuppressive therapy or chemotherapy is rare. CASE PRESENTATION A 77-year-old man was...

Our study retrospectively investigated the expression of forkhead/winged helix transcription factor (Foxp3) in renal tissue and clinical features of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated glomerulonephritis (HBV-GN). A total of 58 patients with HBV-GN were assigned to group A; 45 serum and renal tissue HBsAg-negative patients with nephritis were group B; 24 serum HBsAg-positive and re...

BACKGROUND A simple and reliable DNA extraction of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is critical in developing an ultrasensitive detection method for HBV infection. Current commercially available serum Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) DNA extraction methods are time-consuming, expensive and/or require specialized equipment, which hinders wide adoption of clinical laboratories. This study offers a report on an ult...

Adefovir dipivoxil treatment has significantly improved the outcome of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, it remains largely unknown how immune system responds to the treatment. Chronic HBV patients were treated with adefovir dipivoxil and examined for serum HBV DNA loads, cytokines, and T helper (Th1) and 2 (Th2) cytokine producing T cells during 104 weeks of the treatment. Th...

This study evaluated the prevalence of HBV infection in a population of South American immigrants in Italy and to determine in patients with detectable serum HBV-DNA the HBV genotypes. Between April 2005 and April 2006 a total of 130 South American immigrants were tested for HBsAg. In HBsAg positive patients the biochemical and virological activity of infection and the possible presence of co-i...

conclusions fluctuations in serum alt levels may change the prognosis of a hbv inactive carrier state. objectives this study aimed to determine the incidence rate and patterns of alt fluctuations and prognostic values for the development of chronic hbv e antigen (hbeag)-negative hepatitis b (chb), hbv surface antigen (hbsag) seroclearance, and liver-related complications. patients and methods t...

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has been suggested to be associated with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients with HBe antigen (HBeAg)-negativity and a low HBV-DNA level. However, few studies have evaluated the association according to histological findings of the liver.Among a total of 198 HBV-infected patients who received a percutaneous liver...

We compared the prevalence of serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in cancer patients who were immunocompromised with that in healthy subjects. Testing positive for serum HBV DNA were 27 of the 232 (11.6%) surface-antigen-negative cancer patients and 7 of the 382 (1.8%) surface-antigen-negative healthy subjects. These data suggest that the negative serology, at least in immunocompromised individua...