Be vigilant against occult HBV infection status and its reactivation risk in patients with functional cure of chronic hepatitis B
LU Fengmin
ZHANG Xiaojing
ZHOU Zhao
CHEN Xiangmei
LIU Shourong
Abstract：Functional cure of chronic hepatitis B(CHB)is characterized by serum HBsAg clearance and persistent negativity of chronic hepatitis B virus(HBV)deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA).However,some patients are still in a state of occult HBV infection(OBI)due to the presence of covalently closed circular DNA(cccDNA)in their liver tissues.Based on a retrospective analysis of the previous disputes over the definitions of OBI and occult hepatitis B(OHB),this paper explores the mechanism of the persistence of cccDNA in the liver tissues of the patients who have achieved functional cure.It is recommended that those who have achieved functional cure be included in the OBI management framework to reduce the potential risks such as virus reactivation and infection transmission through blood transfusion.
Keywords：Occult hepatitis B virus(HBV)infection(OBI)Occult hepatitis B(OHB)Functional cureCovalently closed circular DNA(cccDNA)Virus reactivation
Publication Date：2025-07-30
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-27(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 754-758 )