Characteristics of Adults in the Hepatitis B Research Network in North America Reflect Their Country of Origin and Hepatitis B Virus Genotype

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide; populations that migrate to the US and Canada might be disproportionately affected. The Hepatitis B Research Network (HBRN) is a cooperative network of investigators from the United States and Canada, created to facilitate clinical, therapeutic, and translational research in adults and children with hepatitis B. We describe the structure of the network and baseline characteristics of adults with hepatitis B enrolled in the network

Precore and Basal Core Promoter Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Variants Are Present From a Young Age and Differ Across HBV Genotypes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167511/1/hep31506_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167511/2/hep31506.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167511/3/hep31506-sup-0001-Supinfo.pd

Highly multiplexed 2-dimensional imaging mass cytometry analysis of HBV-infected liver

Studies of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) immune pathogenesis are hampered by limited access to liver tissues and technologies for detailed analyses. Here, utilizing imaging mass cytometry (IMC) to simultaneously detect 30 immune, viral, and structural markers in liver biopsies from patients with hepatitis B e antigen+ (HBeAg+) chronic hepatitis B, we provide potentially novel comprehensive visualization, quantitation, and phenotypic characterizations of hepatic adaptive and innate immune subsets that correlated with hepatocellular injury, histological fibrosis, and age. We further show marked correlations between adaptive and innate immune cell frequencies and phenotype, highlighting complex immune interactions within the hepatic microenvironment with relevance to HBV pathogenesis