乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）感染是全球华人最重要的公共卫生问题之一。最近，本项目合作双方首次发现乙肝患者中病毒核心抗体水平（qAnti-HBc）和肝炎活动性及药物治疗应答高度相关，提示该指标有望成为乙肝治疗药物选择及疗效预测的重要依据。本研究将在更广泛的慢性乙肝病人队列，土拨鼠和小鼠乙肝动物模型中进一步验证qAnti-HBc 的临床价值并探讨其免疫机制。预期成果将为慢性乙肝提供新的疗效预测指标，并有助于对乙肝致病机制的深入理解。

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most important public health problems for Chinese worldwide.Our previous study is the first one to demonstrate that the level of anti-HBc antibody is highly associated with the serum ALT level and can predict the responses to anti-HBV treatment which allows clinicians to make a more informed drug selection for patients. In this proposal, we aim to use clinical samples of chronic hepatitis B patients as well as woodchuck and mouse models to investigate the clinical implications and underlying mechanism(s) for the dynamic changes of anti-HBc Ab titers. We expect the results of this study will elucidate whether anti-HBc antibody can serve as a new predictor for treatment response of anti-HBV therapies and a surrogate marker for HBV-specific T cell immune response, which is considered the major mechanism for clearance of HBV infection. This study can also shed light on the immunological mechanisms that regulate the anti-HBc titers.

“海峡两岸热带医学研究学术交流研讨会”于2015年10月31日-11月05日在台北举行，会议由台湾大学承办，会议的主题在于增进两岸热带病毒性、寄生虫、虫媒传播之传染性疾病的研究交流和经验分享。在本次会议中，本项目组报告了研究实施以来的主要进展，本研究重点关注于慢性乙型肝炎病毒感染的治疗应答预测新指标-乙肝核心抗体定量水平的研究。乙型肝炎病毒感染是全球华人最重要的公共卫生问题之一。此前，本团队同台湾大学陈培哲教授团队一起合作并首次发现乙肝患者中病毒核心抗体水平和肝炎活动性及药物治疗应答高度相关，提示该指标有望成为乙肝治疗药物选择及疗效预测的重要依据。在本研究中，我们通过在在更广泛的慢性乙肝病人队列，土拨鼠和小鼠乙肝动物模型中进一步验证乙肝核心抗体定量水平的临床价值并探讨了其免疫机制，研究成果将为慢性乙肝提供新的疗效预测指标，并有助于对乙肝致病机制的深入理解。