Clinical Utility of Quantitative HBV Core Antibodies for Solving Diagnostic Dilemmas
The present-day management of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection relies on constant and appropriate monitoring of viral activity, disease progression and treatment response. Traditional HBV infection biomarkers have many limitations in predicting clinical outcomes or therapy success. Quantitation of...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Viruses |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/2/373 |
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| author | Ivana Lazarevic Ana Banko Danijela Miljanovic Maja Cupic |
| author_facet | Ivana Lazarevic Ana Banko Danijela Miljanovic Maja Cupic |
| author_sort | Ivana Lazarevic |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present-day management of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection relies on constant and appropriate monitoring of viral activity, disease progression and treatment response. Traditional HBV infection biomarkers have many limitations in predicting clinical outcomes or therapy success. Quantitation of HBV core antibodies (qAnti-HBc) is a new non-invasive biomarker that can be used in solving multiple diagnostic problems. It was shown to correlate well with infection phases, level of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, exacerbations during chronic infection and presence of occult infection. Further, the level of qAnti-HBc was recognised as predictive of spontaneous or therapy-induced HBeAg and HBsAg seroclearance, relapse after therapy discontinuation, re-infection after liver transplantation and viral reactivation upon immunosuppression. However, qAnti-HBc cannot be relied upon as a single diagnostic test to solve all dilemmas, and its diagnostic and prognostic power can be much improved when combined with other diagnostic biomarkers (HBV DNA, HBeAg, qHBsAg and anti-HBs antibodies). The availability of commercial qAnti-HBc diagnostic kits still needs to be improved. The comparison of results from different studies and definitions of universal cut-off values continue to be hindered because many methods are only semi-quantitative. The clinical utility of qAnti-HBc and the methods used for its measurement are the focus of this review. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:00:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1fed3006040e42e6999a6c6e266424b0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:00:24Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj.art-1fed3006040e42e6999a6c6e266424b02023-11-16T23:48:08ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152023-01-0115237310.3390/v15020373Clinical Utility of Quantitative HBV Core Antibodies for Solving Diagnostic DilemmasIvana Lazarevic0Ana Banko1Danijela Miljanovic2Maja Cupic3Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, SerbiaInstitute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, SerbiaInstitute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, SerbiaInstitute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, SerbiaThe present-day management of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection relies on constant and appropriate monitoring of viral activity, disease progression and treatment response. Traditional HBV infection biomarkers have many limitations in predicting clinical outcomes or therapy success. Quantitation of HBV core antibodies (qAnti-HBc) is a new non-invasive biomarker that can be used in solving multiple diagnostic problems. It was shown to correlate well with infection phases, level of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, exacerbations during chronic infection and presence of occult infection. Further, the level of qAnti-HBc was recognised as predictive of spontaneous or therapy-induced HBeAg and HBsAg seroclearance, relapse after therapy discontinuation, re-infection after liver transplantation and viral reactivation upon immunosuppression. However, qAnti-HBc cannot be relied upon as a single diagnostic test to solve all dilemmas, and its diagnostic and prognostic power can be much improved when combined with other diagnostic biomarkers (HBV DNA, HBeAg, qHBsAg and anti-HBs antibodies). The availability of commercial qAnti-HBc diagnostic kits still needs to be improved. The comparison of results from different studies and definitions of universal cut-off values continue to be hindered because many methods are only semi-quantitative. The clinical utility of qAnti-HBc and the methods used for its measurement are the focus of this review.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/2/373hepatitis B virus (HBV)HBV core antibodyquantitationqAnti-HBcdiagnostic methodnew biomarker |
| spellingShingle | Ivana Lazarevic Ana Banko Danijela Miljanovic Maja Cupic Clinical Utility of Quantitative HBV Core Antibodies for Solving Diagnostic Dilemmas Viruses hepatitis B virus (HBV) HBV core antibody quantitation qAnti-HBc diagnostic method new biomarker |
| title | Clinical Utility of Quantitative HBV Core Antibodies for Solving Diagnostic Dilemmas |
| title_full | Clinical Utility of Quantitative HBV Core Antibodies for Solving Diagnostic Dilemmas |
| title_fullStr | Clinical Utility of Quantitative HBV Core Antibodies for Solving Diagnostic Dilemmas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clinical Utility of Quantitative HBV Core Antibodies for Solving Diagnostic Dilemmas |
| title_short | Clinical Utility of Quantitative HBV Core Antibodies for Solving Diagnostic Dilemmas |
| title_sort | clinical utility of quantitative hbv core antibodies for solving diagnostic dilemmas |
| topic | hepatitis B virus (HBV) HBV core antibody quantitation qAnti-HBc diagnostic method new biomarker |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/2/373 |
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