Effect of Entecavir Versus Tenofovir on HBV DNA Level in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Liver disease associated with persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains an important public health problem with significant morbidity and mortality. In spite of the existence of an effective vaccine, worldwide approximately 260 million people are chronic HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers and current treatment with interferon and/or nucleoside analogues (NA) is not able to achieve a complete cure. The key obstacle to HBV eradication is the persistence of HBV DNA in the nuclei of infected hepatocytes, either integrated into the host genome or as a covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) episomal form. While HBV integration is rare and its clinical implications still require investigation, cccDNA plays an essential role in the long-term persistence of HBV infection and can often be detected even following NA therapy and HBsAg seroconversion. Since quantification of cccDNA in infected hepatocytes requires invasive liver biopsy, more accessible tissues, such as serum or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) have been investigated in different patient populations.