Background/Aims: Studies of hepatic steatosis (HS) effect on COVID-19 vaccine immunogenicity are lacking. We aimed to compare immunogenicity of BNT162b2 and CoronaVac among moderate/severe HS and control subjects. Methods: Two hundred ninety-five subjects who received BNT162b2 or CoronaVac vaccines from five vaccination centers were categorized into moderate/severe HS (controlled attenuation parameter ≥268 dB/m on transient elastography) (n=74) or control (n=221) groups. Primary outcomes were seroconversion rates of neutralising antibody by live virus Microneutralization (vMN) assay (titer ≥10) at day21 (BNT162b2) or day28 (CoronaVac) and day56 (both). Secondary outcome was highest-tier titer response (top 25% of vMN titer; cutoff: 160 [BNT162b2] and 20 [CoronaVac]) at day 56. Results: For BNT162b2 (n=228, 77.3%), there was no statistical differences in seroconversion rates (day21: 71.7% vs. 76.6%; day56: 100% vs. 100%) or vMN geometric mean titer (GMT) (day21: 13.2 vs. 13.3; day56: 91.9 vs. 101.4) among moderate/severe HS and control groups respectively. However, lower proportion of moderate/severe HS patients had highest-tier response (day56: 5.0% vs. 15.5%; P=0.037). For CoronaVac (n=67, 22.7%), there was no statistical differences in seroconversion rates (day21: 7.1% vs. 15.1%; day56: 64.3% vs. 83.0%) or vMN GMT (5.3 vs. 5.8,) at day28. However, moderate/severe HS patients had lower vMN GMT (9.1 vs. 14.8, P=0.021) at day 56 with lower proportion having highest-tier response (21.4% vs. 52.8%, P=0.036). Conclusions While there was no difference in seroconversion rate between moderate/severe HS and control groups after two doses of vaccine, a lower proportion of moderate/severe HS patients achieved highest-tier response for either BNT162b2 or CoronaVac.

Background/Aims: Data of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine immunogenicity among chronic liver disease (CLD) and liver transplant (LT) patients are conflicting. We performed meta-analysis to examine vaccine immunogenicity regarding etiology, cirrhosis status, vaccine platform and type of antibody. Methods: We collected data via three databases from inception to February 16, 2022, and reported pooled seroconversion rate, T cell response and safety data after two vaccine doses. Results: Twenty-eight (CLD only: 5; LT only: 18; both: 2; LT with third dose: 3) observational studies of 3,945 patients were included. For CLD patients, seroconversion rate ranged between 84% (95% confidence interval [CI], 76–90%) and 91% (95% CI, 83–95%), based predominantly on neutralizing antibody and anti-spike antibody, respectively. Seroconversion rate was 81% (95% CI, 76–86%) in chronic hepatitis B, 96% (95% CI, 93–97%) in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, 85% (95% CI, 75–91%) in cirrhosis and 85% (95% CI, 78–90%) in non-cirrhosis, 86% (95% CI, 78–92%) for inactivated vaccine and 89% (95% CI, 71–96%) for mRNA vaccine. The pooled seroconversion rate of anti-spike antibody was 66% (95% CI, 55–75%) after two doses of mRNA vaccines and 88% (95% CI, 58–98%) after third dose among LT recipients. T cell response rate was 65% (95% CI, 30–89%). Prevalence of adverse events was 27% (95% CI, 18–38%) and 63% (95% CI, 39–82%) among CLD and LT groups, respectively. Conclusions CLD patients had good humoral response to COVID-19 vaccine, while LT recipients had lower response.

Background/Aims: We investigated the dynamics of serum HBV pre-genomic RNA (pgRNA) and hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) in patients receiving nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) and their predictability for favourable suppression of serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Methods: Serum viral biomarkers were measured at baseline, weeks 4, 12, 24, 36, and 48 of treatment. Patients were followed up thereafter and serum HBsAg level was measured at end of follow-up (EOFU). Favourable HBsAg response (FHR) was defined as ≤100 IU/mL or HBsAg seroclearance upon EOFU. Results: Twenty-eight hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive and 36 HBeAg-negative patients (median, 38.2 years old; 71.9% male) were recruited with median follow-up duration of 17.1 years (interquartile range, 12.8–18.2). For the entire cohort, 22/64 (34.4%) achieved FHR. For HBeAg-positive patients, serum HBV pgRNA decline at week 4 was significantly greater for patients with FHR compared to non-FHR (5.49 vs. 4.32 log copies/mL, respectively; P=0.016). The area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUROC) for week 4 HBV pgRNA reduction to predict FHR in HBeAg-positive patients was 0.825 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.661–0.989). For HBeAg-negative patients, instead of increase in serum HBcrAg in non-FHR patients, FHR patients had median reduction in HBcrAg at week 4 (increment of 1.75 vs. reduction of 2.98 log U/mL; P=0.023). The AUROC for week 4 change of HBcrAg to predict FHR in HBeAg-negative patients was 0.789 (95% CI, 0.596–0.982). Conclusions Early on-treatment changes of serum HBV pgRNA and HBcrAg at 4 weeks predict HBsAg seroclearance or ≤100 IU/mL in NA-treated CHB patients upon long-term FU.