Abstract
We studied the clinical significance of the binding activity to polymerized human serum albumin (pHSA-BA) and pre-S antigen (pre-S Ag) as predicting markers of prognosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with antiviral tratment. The pHSA-BA and pre-S Ag were measured using enzyme immunoassay and their values were expressed as optical density at 492nm (negative<0.5). There was a good correlation between pHSA-BA and pre-S Ag titers with r=0.961. The levels of pHSA-BA and pre-S Ag decreased under 0.5 in 8 patients (Group A) just after treatment, while in the remaining 20 patients (Group B), these levels were persistently over 0.5 after treatment. Five patients (62%) in Group A had persistently normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels during a follow-up period after treatment, while the remaining 3 had elevated ALT levels with elevation of pHSA-BA and pre-S Ag levels after treatment. Two of the these 5 patients were positive for HBeAg. Seventeen patients (85%) in Group B had elevated ALT levels, with 2 being negative for HBeAg and 3 positive for anti HBe. These results indicate that pHSA-BA and pre-S Ag may be useful markers in predicting the long-term prognosis of CHB patients with antiviral treatment.
