EXPLAINER: Lab results and their interpretation

Thanks. How much is the % of the patients who clear HDV with:

  1. TAF+ pegINF
  2. TAF+ pegINF + bulevirtide
  3. TAF + bulevirtide

Is it possible for me to get NAPs ?? which country has the trials going

Hi Suresh,

See my message above I am not sure what the HDV RNA clearance rate is for TDF + bulvertide.

NAPs are still under clinical development. The locations of the next clinical trial have not yet been decided but will include locations in Europe and North America,

Is it possible to include Qatar

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@ThomasTu , had a visit with the GI today and looks
Like more blood is needed to be done. By looking at the results, he thinks I might be a chronic hep b? Hope for a better test results. Thank you!

@ThomasTu Hello Thomas, I would like to know the answer to this as I am waiting for my blood test to come back. ON my note, the dr stated he believe I am chronic and my hbsag will come back positive. Is this very much true?

Dear @Tnn,

HBeAg is used as a marker for high-level viral replication, so it is good that it is negative. You have antibodies to the HBc protein (core protein). HBc is not in the vaccine, so you must have been infected by the virus at one time or another. You do not have HBc IgM antibodies. IgM is the first type of antibody to appear, and then it changes to other types of immunoglobulins, usually IgG for HBV. Being HBc IgM negative means you were not recently infected.

This is an unusual set of tests, so a definitive diagnosis cannot be made. Normally, tests for HBsAg (viral surface proteins) and HBsAg antibodies would also have been done. Your tests are consistent with either chronic HBeAg-negative hepatitis B, or with having cleared an HBV infection sometime in the past. The HBsAg and HBsAg antibody tests will tell those two possibilities apart (chronic infection = HBsAg positive and HBsAg antibody negative; cleared infection = HBsAg negative and HBsAg antibodies positive). Regardless, your liver values (bilirubin, AlkPhos, AST/ALT) are all well within normal limits, so there is not a lot of ongoing damage to your liver right now. That, pus being HBeAg negative, is good news!

I wish you the best.

John

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@john.tavis Hello John, Thank you for the clear explanation. So hypothetically, if a person is cleared infection = HBsAg negative and HBsAg antibodies positive, does the test “hep b core” always showed up positive?

If you have cleared the infection, you would be HBc (ie, HBV Core) negative and HBc antibody positive. Your test says HBc Antibody positive (that would be the IgG version of the antibody in my last post). That is the information that tells me you have been infected at one time or another in the past, but I cannot tell if you are currently infected without a measurement for HBsAg or HBc. This is because HBc antibodies can be present in patients who have cleared the infection and also in patients who are currently infected.

John.

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@john.tavis Thank you John!

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Hi Suresh,

I appreciate the request but cant really give you any definitive answer.

Sorry about that…

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Will it be possible for me to travel for one month to America/Europe and get NAPs and come back.

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Dear Suresh,

NAP-based combination therapy will be 48 weeks (of weekly administration) in the next trial.

I can appreciate your wish to try this therapy (perhaps in the location where the next trial will be held) but I also want to stress the importance of balancing your desire to participate in a future NAP trial versus not taking existing available therapy if your liver disease is progressing.

Although it may be a chronic therapy, bulvertide is effective at controlling HDV infection and preventing progression of liver disease.

Best regards,

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Hi @Tnn,

Yes, I agree with everything @john.tavis has said: you will need to wait for the HBsAg and anti-HBs results first before being able to say anything. You may have cleared it in the past, or you may be chronically infected.

Thomas

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@ThomasTu

I just got my liver test back.

What does Echogenicity: Slightly elevated means?
Anything I need to worry about from the results below?

Liver: Echogenicity: Slightly elevated. Focal lesions: None.
Surface nodularity: Absent. Craniocaudal length: 14.1 cm.
Ascites: None.
Gallbladder: No gallstones. 4 mm gallbladder polyp. Gallbladder
sludge: Absent. Gallbladder wall: No evidence of thickening or
pericholecystic fluid. The proximal common duct: 2 mm.
Sonographic Murphy sign: Absent.
Pancreas: The visualized portion appears unremarkable.
Spleen: 10.7 cm. Focal lesions: None.
Right kidney: 12.3 x 5.7 x 5.8 cm. Echogenicity: unremarkable.
Renal lesions: None. Urinary stones: None. Hydronephrosis:
None.
Left kidney: 13.0 x 5.9 x 5.3 cm. Echogenicity: unremarkable.
Renal lesions: None. Urinary stones: None. Hydronephrosis:
None.
The visualized portion of the abdominal aorta is within normal
limits in size.
Impression:

  1. No focal hepatic lesions seen.
    2.4 mm gallbladder polyp

@ThomasTu

Hello Thomas, I like to add this to my test results. Can you explain? I am still waiting for my Hbsag results. Thank you for this forum and all the wonderful people on here. I have learned a lot for the last 1.5 weeks!

HBV AS IU/ML Your ValueHBV DNA not detected IU/mL Standard RangeIU/mL
LOG10 HBV AS IU/ML Your ValueCANCELED log10 IU/mL Standard Rangelog10 IU/mL

AFP, SERUM, TUMOR MARKER
Your Value
2.9 ng/mL
Standard Range
0.0 - 6.9 ng/mL

Hi @Tnn,

These are mostly a collection of liver function/structure tests. I am not qualified to use these in diagnosis, but from my non-physician eyes they look pretty good except for the gallbladder polyp. I would be sure to speak to your physician about that.

Econgenicity is a general term for data from sound-based detection, commonly called ultrasound. I don’t know enough about this specific assay to say what it means, so I would also discuss this with your physician.

AFP is a protein made by the liver very early in life (before and shortly after birth) that is turned off as people get older. It often is turned back on during liver cancer, so having a value in the standard range is good. It is not a perfect indicator of liver cancer, so it is best interpreted in context of other assays of liver status.

I hope this helps.

John.

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As you said that there could be ALT flare, I am having bit of flare of ALT and AST. Hope it is good sign of the imuune system clearing infected cells from the liver.

Hello everyone.

I am new here and really glad to join this wonderful community. The HEP B Foundation which has been very helpful to me urged me to join and I’m glad I did.

I am a 46 year old male Nigerian. Since I tested positive to CHB, I have become both anxious and depressed and perhaps that accounts for the high blood pressure issue that I now manage with lifestyle changes and meds.

Reading about seroconversion and precore mutants got me so confused and afraid that I may have the mutated variant of CHB.

After refusing treatment for a year, I braced up and began TAF (Vemlidy) a month ago. I have night sweats/colds and fatigue but I must say that is improving.

Kindly look at my tests and tell me if I have the hard-to-treat variant of CHB and what I can do to enjoy quality of life.

Meanwhile, I am taking adequate protection to prevent infecting others. My supportive wife and our 3 young sons have all been fully vaccinated except for my wife who has to take a last dose in October.

Hbeag is negative while Hbeab is positive.

Thanking you in advance and thanks for the great job you’re already doing.


Hi Suresh
I may not btell you alot but to welcome you in this group.
The slight discomfort you are experiencing at night maybe caused by vamlidy but it’s for a very short time.
Kinoti

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