Transcriptomic profile of Chronic Hepatitis B patients positive for pregenomic RNA.

In this cohort, we aimed to study the transcriptomic profile of CHB (Chronic Hepatitis B) HBeAg negative patients treated with Nucleoside Analog (NAs) and examined for the HBV transcriptional maintenance after tested for the pregenomic RNA (pgRNA) index. Twelve HBeAg negative CHB patients, who receive long-term treatment with NAs were included. Plasma samples were quantified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the presence of pgRNA and RNA extraction was performed for analysing the transcriptomic profile through RNA sequencing. A total of 18.1% of our sample was positive for HBV pgRNA, delineating a positive correlation with cirrhosis and an apparently negative correlation with therapy duration. HBV pgRNA seems to be a valuable non invasive biomarker, delineating the transcriptional status of the HBV in the liver, even under normal biochemical conditions. The transcriptomic profile of HBV pgRNA positive patients could delineate novel pathways related to cirrhosis and HCC development on CHB patients.