Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2013 August, 230(4)

Serum Decoy Receptor 3 Is a Useful Predictor for the Active Status of Chronic Hepatitis B in Hepatitis B e Antigen-Negative Patients

YANQIANG HOU,¹ PING XU,² XIAOLI LOU,¹ DONGYU LIANG,¹ MEI ZHANG,³ ZHENHUAN ZHANG³ and LURONG ZHANG⁴

¹Department of Central Laboratory, Songjiang Hospital Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R. China
²Department of Gastroenterology, Songjiang Hospital Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R. China
³Department of Radiation Oncology, Shands Cancer Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
4 Department of Radiation Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, P.R. China

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global public health problem, because patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) may progress to liver cirrhosis and eventually evolve into hepatocellular carcinoma. Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) is a soluble receptor of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, and has been implicated in anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory pathways. In this study, we explored the clinical value of serum DcR3 in predicting the active status of CHB in hepatitis B e antigen-negative patients (active HBeAg (−) CHB), which was determined with ELISA. The serum level of DcR3 in active HBeAg (−) CHB patients (1.92 ± 0.68 ng/ml) was higher than that in healthy controls (0.80 ± 0.25 ng/ml, p < 0.0001) and that in inactive status of HBeAg (−) CHB (inactive hepatitis B surface antigen carrier, HBsAg-IaC) patients (0.95 ± 0.26 ng/ml, p < 0.0001). DcR3 level was correlated with HBV DNA level (r = 0.819, p < 0.0001) and alanine transaminase level (ALT, r = 0.704, p < 0.0001) in active HBeAg (−) CHB patients. The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve of DcR3 for detecting the active status of HBeAg (−) CHB patients was 0.914 (95% confidence interval, 0.851-0.977). The optimal cut-off value for DcR3 to predict active HBeAg (−) CHB was 1.22 ng/ml, which had a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 84.4%. These results suggest that serum DcR3 level may be useful for detecting HBeAg (−) CHB in the active stage, which requires medical treatment.

keywords —— alanine aminotransferase; chronic hepatitis B; decoy receptor 3; hepatitis B e antigen; hepatitis B virus DNA

© 2013 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2013, 230, 227-232

Correspondence: Yanqiang Hou, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Central Laboratory, Songjiang Hospital Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201600, P.R. China.

e-mail: houyanqiang@aliyun.com

Lurong Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Radiation Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350005, P.R. China.

e-mail: lz8506@gmail.com