A model based on chitinase 3-like protein for expecting liver severity of hepatitis B virus infections in the immune tolerance phase.

Background: The question of whether to treat patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) during the immune tolerance (IT) period is a matter of ongoing debate, as it is difficult to discern different levels of liver disease severity. We created and assessed a novel diagnostic model for identifying significant liver tissue damage in individuals with CHB in IT phase.

Methods: From November 2018 to December 2022, a cross-sectional study of 311 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection (HBV DNA > 30 IU/mL) at Ningbo No. 2 Hospital, Ningbo, China, who underwent liver biopsy, including 44 patients in IT phase. Utilizing univariate regression analyses and logistics analysis, and model was developed and validated to predict the severity of hepatic inflammatory and fibrosis in CHB patients and in IT phase.

Results: Chitinase 3-like Protein (CHI3L1), albumin (ALB), alanine transaminase (ALT) / aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were identified as independent predictors of liver lesion severity in CHB patients with IT. The three were combined to build the model (named as CAA index), which demonstrated good performance. The CAA index achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.916 (95 % CI, 0.820-1.000) and AUC of validation group was 0.875 (95 % CI, 0.683-1.000).

Conclusions: CHI3L1 serves as an independent measure of liver fibrosis and inflammation in CHB. This diagnostic model has some value in assessing the severity of the patient's liver lesion severity and may be a reliable non-invasive diagnostic model helping determine whether treatment is necessary among CHB patients in IT phase.