Association of HBV serological markers with host antiviral immune response relevant hepatic inflammatory damage in chronic HBV infection

Abstract The natural progression of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is dynamic, but the longitudinal landscape of HBV serological markers with host antiviral immune response relevant hepatic inflammatory damage remains undetermined. To this issue, we studied the association of HBV serological markers with the severity of hepatic inflammatory damage and enumerated HBV‐specific T cells using the cultured enzyme‐linked immune absorbent spot (ELISpot). Five hundred and twenty‐four treatment‐naïve chronic HBV infection patients were enrolled. The Spearman correlation analysis revealed that in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐positive patients, all HBV virologic indicators negatively correlated with liver inflammatory damage and fibrosis ( p < 0.01). Stronger correlations were accessed in the subgroup of HBeAg‐positive patients with HBV DNA > 2 × 10 6 IU/mL ( p < 0.01), whereas negative correlations disappeared in patients with HBV DNA ≤ 2 × 10 6 IU/mL. Surprisingly, in HBeAg‐negative patients, the HBV DNA level was positively correlated with the hepatic inflammatory damage ( p < 0.01). The relationship between type Ⅱ interferon genes expression and HBV DNA levels also revealed a direct shift from the initial negative to positive in HBeAg‐positive patients with HBV DNA declined below 2 × 10 6 IU/mL. The number of HBV‐specific T cells were identified by interferon γ ELISpot assays and showed a significant increase from HBeAg‐positive to HBeAg‐negative group. The host's anti‐HBV immunity remains effective in HBeAg‐positive patients with HBV DNA levels exceeding 2 × 10 6 IU/mL, as it efficiently eliminates infected hepatocytes and inhibits HBV replication. However, albeit the increasing number of HBV‐specific T cells, the host antiviral immune response shifts towards dysfunctional when the HBV DNA load drops below this threshold, which causes more pathological damage and disease progression.