ACE Score Identifies HBeAg-negative Inactive Carriers at a Single-point Evaluation, Regardless of HBV Genotype

Other authors

Institut Català de la Salut

[Roade L, Riveiro-Barciela M, Esteban R, Buti M] Unitat Hepàtica, Servei de Medicina Interna, Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari, Barcelona, Spain. Departament de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain. Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain. [Palom A] Departament de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. [Rodríguez-Frías F, Rando A, Tabernero D] Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Servei d’Hepatologia, Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari, Barcelona, Spain. Servei de Laboratoris Clínics, Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari, Barcelona, Spain. [Bes M, Sauleda S] Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Grup de Recerca de les Malalties Hepàtiques, Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Barcelona, Spain. Transfusion Safety Laboratory, Banc de Sang i Teixits, Servei Català de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain. [Salcedo MT] Servei d’Anatomia Patològica, Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari, Barcelona, Spain. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain. [Casillas R] Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Servei d’Hepatologia, Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari, Barcelona, Spain. Servei de Laboratoris Clínics, Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari, Barcelona, Spain. [Accarino E] Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain. Grup de Recerca de les Malalties Hepàtiques, Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Barcelona, Spain

Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus

Publication date

2022-12-09T09:33:59Z

2022-12-09T09:33:59Z

2022-12



Abstract

HBV DNA; Hepatitis B virus; Inactive carrier


ADN del VHB; Virus de la hepatitis B; Portador inactivo


ADN del VHB; Virus de l'hepatitis B; Portador inactiu


Background and Aims Hepatitis B virus (HBV) biomarkers have been used for a better categorization of patients, even though the lack of simple algorithms and the impact of genotypes limit their application. Our aim was to assess the usefulness of noninvasive markers for the identification of HBV inactive carriers (ICs) in a single-point evaluation and to design a predictive model for their identification. Methods This retrospective-prospective study included 343 consecutive HBeAg-negative individuals. Clinical, analytical, and virological data were collected, and a liver biopsy was performed if needed. Subjects were classified at the end of follow-up as ICs, chronic hepatitis B and gray zone.A predictive model was constructed, and validated by 1000-bootstrap samples. Results After 39 months of follow-up, 298 subjects were ICs, 36 were chronic hepatitis B CHB, and nine were gray zone. Eighty-nine (25.9%) individuals required a liver biopsy. Baseline HBV DNA hazard ratio (HR) 6.0, p<0.001), HBV core-related antigen (HBcrAg) (HR 6.5, p<0.001), and elastography (HR 4.6, p<0.001) were independently associated with the IC stage. The ACE score (HBV DNA, HBcrAg, elastography), obtained by bootstrapping, yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) of 0.925 (95% CI: 0.880–0.970, p<0.001) for identification of ICs. The AUROC for genotype D was 0.95, 0.96 for A, 0.90 for E, and 0.88 for H/F. An ACE score of <1 had a positive predictive value of 99.5%, and a score ≤12 points had a diagnostic accuracy of 93.8%. Conclusions Low baseline HBV DNA, HBcrAg, and liver stiffness were independently associated with the IC phase. A score including those variables identified ICs at a single-point evaluation, and might be applied to implement less intensive follow-up strategies.


This study received partial financial support from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI17/02233 and PI20/01692).

Document Type

Article


Published version

Language

English

Publisher

Xia & He

Related items

Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology;10(6)

http://dx.doi.org/10.14218/JCTH.2022.00068

info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/PE2013-2016/PI17%2F02233

info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/PE2017-2020/PI20%2F01692

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Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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