Abstract: Objective Exploring the correlation between hepatitis B virus deoxyribonic acid (HBV DNA) load and serum microRNA-122 (miR-122) and microRNA-223 (miR-223) levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods The clinical data of 540 patients with CHB who received treatment in our hospital from June 2022 to March 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the serum HBV DNA load, the patients were divided into low load (＜10⁵ copies/mL) group (n=230), medium load (10⁵~10⁷ copies/mL) group (n=180) and high load (> 10⁷ copies/mL) group (n=130). Another selection of 300 healthy subjects was made during the same period in our hospital physical examination center to serve as control group. Serum miR-122 and miR-223 levels were compared in different HBV DNA load groups, ROC curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of serum miR-122 and miR-223 in CHB, and the risk factors of CHB were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between HBV DNA load and serum levels of miR-122 and miR-223. Results Serum miR-122 (1.45±0.37, 2.84±0.72, 4.11±0.90) and miR-223 (1.34±0.33, 1.69±0.37, 1.91±0.45) were significantly different among the three groups (F=716.128, 104.744, P<0.05). The proportion of serum miR-122 (2.56±0.49), miR-223 (1.79±0.42) and HBV DNA load > 10⁵ copies/mL in CHB group (310/540) was significantly higher than that in control group (1.07±0.21, 1.05±0.30, 75/300) (t=51.844, 26.935, χ²=81.585, P<0.05); ROC analysis confirmed that serum miR-122 and miR-223 levels could be used to predict CHB, and the areas under the curve were miR-122 (AUC=0.794, 95%CI: 0.690~0.898) and miR-223 (AUC=0.813, 95%CI: 0.720~0.906), all P<0.05; Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that miR-122 ≥ 1.528, miR-223 ≥ 1.210 and HBV DNA load > 10⁵ copies/mL were risk factors for CHB. OR values were 2.011 (95%CI: 1.211~3.339), 1.696 (95%CI: 1.026~2.804), 2.117 (95%CI: 1.974~3.987), and P<0.05, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that serum miR-122 and miR-223 levels were positively correlated with HBV DNA load (r=0.753, 0.712, P<0.05). Conclusion Serum miR-122 and miR-223 levels were positively correlated with HBV DNA load, and miR-122≥1.528, miR-223≥1.210 and HBV DNA load > 10⁵ copies/mL were risk factors for CHB. These indexes could be used as biological markers for the diagnosis of CHB so as to provide references for clinical condition evaluation and treatment.

Key words: Chronic hepatitis B, Hepatitis B virus deoxyribose acid load, MicroRNA-122, MicroRNA-223, Hepatitis B virus