Correlation between serum transaminase activity and virus load among patients with chronic liver disease type B

Newly developed hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA quantitative assays, transcript ion-mediated amplification and hybridization protection assay (TMA-HPA) and branched-DNA assay were clinically evaluated. The subjects consisted of 16 0 chronic HBV carriers; 48 were hepatitis Be antigen (HBeAg)-positive, wher eas 109 were anti-HBe-positive (three were both negative). All subjects wit h HBeAg, except one, showed high HBV-DNA replication levels (greater than o r equal to 10(5.8) copies/ml). In HBeAg negative subjects, there was a stro ng correlation between the serum HBV-DNA and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels; ALT level was usually normal if the samples tested showed an HBV-D NA level less than 10(5)/ml, whereas, the majority of the sera with an HBV- DNA concentration greater than 10(7)copies/ml showed elevation in serum ALT level. An intermediate range of HBV-DNA level (10(5)-10(7) copies/ml) was associated with variable ALT activity. In conclusion, a serum HBV-DNA level associated with ALT elevation was lower in patients with type B chronic li ver disease negative for HBeAg compared with their HBeAg-positive counterpa rts. There was usually no or mild liver disease activity when patients with chronic HBV infection have serum HBV-DNA levels less than 10(5)copies/ml. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.