Clinical implication of serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac-2-binding protein level on hepatitis B e-antigen loss or seroconversion in hepatitis B e-antigen positive patients

Hiroki Nishikawa; Hirayuki Enomoto; Yoshinori Iwata; Kyohei Kishino; Yoshihiro Shimono; Kunihiro Hasegawa; Chikage Nakano; Ryo Takata; Takashi Nishimura; Kazunori Yoh; Akiio Ishii; Nobuhiro Aizawa; Yoshiyuki Sakai; Naoto Ikeda; Tomoyuki Takashima; Hiroko Iijima; Shuhei Nishiguchi

doi:10.1111/hepr.12655

Clinical implication of serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac-2-binding protein level on hepatitis B e-antigen loss or seroconversion in hepatitis B e-antigen positive patients

Hepatol Res. 2016 Oct;46(11):1065-1073. doi: 10.1111/hepr.12655. Epub 2016 May 26.

Authors

Hiroki Nishikawa¹, Hirayuki Enomoto², Yoshinori Iwata¹, Kyohei Kishino¹, Yoshihiro Shimono¹, Kunihiro Hasegawa¹, Chikage Nakano¹, Ryo Takata¹, Takashi Nishimura¹, Kazunori Yoh¹, Akiio Ishii¹, Nobuhiro Aizawa¹, Yoshiyuki Sakai¹, Naoto Ikeda¹, Tomoyuki Takashima¹, Hiroko Iijima¹, Shuhei Nishiguchi¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
² Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan. enomoto@hyo-med.ac.jp.

PMID: 26787135
DOI: 10.1111/hepr.12655

Abstract

Aim: To examine the impact of pretreatment Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac-2-binding protein (WFA⁺ -M2BP) level on hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) loss or HBeAg seroconversion (SC) for patients with nucleoside/nucleotide analog (NUC) therapy naive HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB).

Methods: A total of 57 patients were analyzed. All subjects were initially treated with NUC. We examined the impact of pretreatment WFA⁺ -M2BP level on HBeAg loss and HBeAg SC using univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results: There were 36 men and 21 women (median age, 39 years). The WFA⁺ -M2BP cut-off index (COI) level ranged 0.43-12.9 (median, 1.55). WFA⁺ -M2BP level in patients with F3 or F4 was significantly higher than that with F0-F2. WFA⁺ -M2BP level in patients with A2 or 3 was significantly higher than that with A0 or 1. For all cases, the 1- and 3-year cumulative HBeAg loss rates were 10.5% and 34.4% and the corresponding cumulative HBeAg SC rates were 8.8% and 29.0%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, in terms of HBeAg loss, pretreatment HBV DNA of 5 log copies/mL or more and pretreatment WFA⁺ -M2BP level of more than 1.55 COI tended to be significant factors linked to loss of HBeAg, while in terms of HBeAg SC, pretreatment HBV DNA of 5 log copies/mL or more was an independent predictor and pretreatment WFA⁺ -M2BP level of more than 1.55 COI tended to be a significant factor.

Conclusion: Pretreatment WFA⁺ -M2BP level may be a useful predictor for HBeAg loss or SC after NUC therapy for patients with HBeAg positive CHB.

Keywords: Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac-2-binding protein; chronic hepatitis B; hepatitis B e-antigen loss; hepatitis B e-antigen seroconversion; nucleoside/nucleotide analog.