OBJECTIVETo study the roles of hepatitis B virus (HBV) X antigen (HBxAg) in development of HBV-related liver diseases and carcinogenesis.

METHODSLiver tissues were collected from patients with HBV infection (HBV carriers, n = 14; chronic hepatitis B (CHB), n = 24), HBV-related liver cirrhosis (LC, n = 20), or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, n = 20). Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of HBxAg and the host apoptosis-related genes Fas and Fas ligand (Fas-L). The correlations of HBxAg with HBV DNA level in serum, inflammation grade, and fibrosis stage were statistically analyzed. Liver inflammation grade and fibrosis stage were in accordance with Knodell standard. x2test and Fisher's exact test were adopted in count data, x2split method was adopted in pariwise comparisons between multiple samples, Rank-sum test was adopted in ranked data, Spearman rank correlation analysis was adopted in correlation analysis.

RESULTSThe rates of HBxAg-positivity were similar between the patients with HBV infection (71.1%), LC (60.0%), and HCC (65.0%) (x2= 0.754, P = 0.686). The rates of Fas- and Fas-L-positivity in liver cells were also similar between the three groups (Fas: 28.9% vs. 20.0% vs. 5.0%, x2= 4.667, P = 0.101; Fas-L: 36.8% vs. 50.0% vs. 60.0%, x2= 2.988, P = 0.225). However, the positive rate of Fas in lymphocytes of liver tissue was significantly higher in the HCC patients than in the HBV-infected patients (90.0% vs. 68.4%, Z = -4.360, P = 0.00001). The expressions of HBxAg and Fas-L corresponded to regions of severe inflammation in tissues from LC patients and some HCC patients. Furthermore, the expression of HBxAg was positively correlated with Fas (r = 0.304, P = 0.02) and Fas-L (r = 0.368, P = 0.004) in the HBV-infected patients and LC patients, and the expression of Fas was positively correlated with that of Fas-L (r = 0.448, P = 0.0004). Patients with high and medium loads of HBV DNA showed significantly higher rates of HBxAg-positivity than those with low loads (88.9% and 69.2% vs. 26.7%, P less than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONIn the early stage of chronic HBV infection, HBxAg may induce liver cell apoptosis by up-regulating Fas expression, and in the later stage, HBxAg may induce immune escape by up-regulating Fas-L expression in liver cells. Together, HBxAg and high HBV DNA load may promote chronic HBV infection and progression to hepatocarcinogenesis.