Impact of HBV genotype F in the diagnosis and evolution of patients with HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection

FAINBOIM H; DI BENEDETO N; PAZ S; MENDIZABAL M; CAMPUZANO S; MARTINEZ M; TADEY L; DELUCHI G; BOUZAS B; MAMMANA L; FLICHMAN D

Congreso; XXVI Congreso de la Asociación Latinoamericana para el Estudio del Hígado (ALEH); 2021

Asociación Latinoamericana para el Estudio del Hígado

BACKGROUNDThe QUANTITATIVE HEPATITIS B SURFACE ANTIGEN (qHBsAg) threshold of 1,000 IU/ml has been proposed to distinguish HBeAg-negative chronic infections from HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis, to assess risk of liver disease progression, and to predict HBsAg clearance. There is evidence that qHBsAg vary significantly among genotypes, however, there is scarce data on genotype F, the most prevalent in Latin America.AIMSTo analyze the impact of HBV genotype F on qHBsAg inpatients with HBeAg-negative chronic infection and to describe clinical and virological outcomes.METHODSHBV-DNA and qHBsAg serum levels of 141 patients with HBeAg-negative chronic infection were correlated with HBV genotype, who were followed for 10.6±7.4 years.RESULTSThe overall genotype distribution was as follows: F 46.8%, D 26.1%, A 25.2%, and B 0.7% and C 0.7%. While no impact of the HBV genotype on HBV DNA levels was observed, qHBsAg differed significantly among genotypes (p