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Elevated hepatitis B virus core-related antigen levels significantly increased the risk for progression to cirrhosis among patients with chronic hepatitis B who are hepatitis B e antigen-negative and are not receiving nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy, according to recently published data.
“Recently, various indices of liver fibrosis based on clinical and biological data have been reported to be useful predictors of fibrosis in liver disease,” Toshifumi Tada, MD, from the Ogaki Municipal Hospital, Japan, and colleagues wrote. “Our findings suggest that an elevated HBcrAg level should be considered a new criterion for starting antiviral therapy in order to decrease the risk of cirrhosis in HBV carriers.”
“NA therapy was reported not only to prevent the progression of hepatitis, but also to reduce the risk of HCC,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore, NA therapy is recommended for HBeAg seroconverters with elevated HBcrAg levels, even if they have low [alanine aminotransferase] and HBV DNA levels.”
Tada T, et al. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;doi:10.1111/jgh.13989.