Quantitation of HBsAg predicts response to entecavir therapy in HBV genotype C patients

Table 4 Pretreatment clinical and virological characteristics between hepatitis B virus DNA-negative and -positive group at year 2 during entecavir therapy

Characteristics	HBV DNA-negative group	HBV DNA-positive group	P value
	(n = 19)	(n = 31)	Univariate analysis	Multivariate analysis
Age	51 (31-73)	52 (32-80)	NS
Gender (male:female)	12:7	20:11	NS
Disease (CH:LC/HCC)	17:2	27:4	NS
ALT (IU/L)	36 (12-366)	108 (13-602)	0.03	NS
Platelet counts (× 104/mL)	19.0 (8.8-35.1)	17.8 (3.4-26.8)	NS
Albumin (mg/dL)	4.35 (3.84-4.85)	4.14 (2.28-4.72)	NS
HBV genotype (B:C:others)	0:19:0	0:31:	NS
HBeAg status (positive:negative)	3:16	21:10	< 0.01	NS
HBV DNA (log copies/mL)	5.1 (3.1-7.4)	7.6 (3.7-8.8)	< 0.01	NS
qHBsAg level (log IU/mL)	3.31 (1.90-4.08)	4.20 (3.06-4.87)	< 0.01	0.03
HBcrAg level (log U/mL)	3.45 (3.0-> 6.8)	> 6.8 (3.0-> 6.8)	NS
Pre-C mutation (%)	75.0	43.3	NS
Core promoter mutation (%)	37.5	60.0	NS

CH: Chronic hepatitis; LC: Liver cirrhosis; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; qHBsAg: Quantitation of hepatitis B surface antigen level; HBcrAg: HBV core-related antigen; NS: Not significant.