hepatitis B

Overview

Hepatitis B is a viral infectious disease caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV), a hepatotropic DNA virus that primarily infects the liver. Clinically, hepatitis B may present as acute infection or progress to chronic infection, which can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Because chronic HBV infection can persist for years with limited symptoms, it remains a major global public health concern and an important target for vaccination, screening, and antiviral treatment.

Biologically, HBV is notable for its ability to evade host immunity and establish long-term persistence. Recent research contexts highlight HBV’s interactions with immune cells, including macrophage polarization and inhibitory receptor pathways such as CD33-mediated immunosuppression. HBV is also relevant beyond the liver, with reported associations with extrahepatic disease such as membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, and with clinical decision-making in oncology, where hepatitis B positivity can affect chemotherapy and immunotherapy planning.

Focus of Latest Publications

Recent publications show hepatitis B being studied across prevention, screening, immunology, treatment response, and disease complications.

Several studies focused on vaccination and immunogenicity. In preterm infants in Spain, a 2+1 schedule of the DTaP-IPV-HB-Hib hexavalent combination vaccine produced high seroprotection after the third dose, including 94.5% seroprotection against hepatitis B at the ≥10 mIU/mL threshold. This supports the use of combined pediatric vaccination strategies that include HBV protection. Another study examined long-term protection after a primary hepatitis B vaccine series in Alaska Native children and adults, addressing the durability of vaccine-induced immunity and the unresolved question of whether booster doses are needed. In healthcare personnel susceptible at hire, a hepatitis B challenge dose was evaluated to assess immune memory in vaccinated individuals who may not have fully responded initially. Survey-based work in Italy also included hepatitis B vaccination coverage and determinants among LGBTQIA+ individuals, reflecting ongoing public health efforts to improve adult vaccine uptake in at-risk populations. A separate study assessed the accuracy of survey-reported hepatitis A and B vaccination among adults at increased risk, indicating interest in how reliably vaccination status can be measured in population studies.

Screening and implementation research were also prominent. A community-based hepatitis B program was evaluated longitudinally, with HBV screening used to identify chronic infection in high-risk immigrant populations in the United States. This reflects the role of screening as a gateway to diagnosis and care linkage. Another publication described an intelligent auto-verification system for infectious serological markers in a clinical laboratory, including hepatitis B testing among nearly 145,000 samples, showing how laboratory workflows support HBV detection at scale.

HBV was also studied in the context of chronic infection, immune regulation, and antiviral therapy. One study reported that monocyte-derived IL-1β predicts and promotes HBsAg decline in chronic hepatitis B patients receiving nucleoside analogue therapy, linking host inflammatory signaling with treatment response. Another investigation described the acetylation status and metabolic characterization of HBV-induced macrophages, reporting that HBV infection drives macrophages toward an M2-polarized phenotype that may contribute to immune evasion and viral persistence. Related mechanistic work showed that HBV persistence involves engagement of the inhibitory receptor CD33 (Siglec-3) by α2,6-linked sialoglycans on HBsAg, providing structural evidence for an immune-evasion pathway. In hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma, immune checkpoint inhibitors were reported to induce a rapid decline in HBV markers that improved prognosis, suggesting that antiviral marker dynamics may be clinically meaningful during cancer immunotherapy.

HBV was also examined in severe liver disease and extrahepatic complications. A translational study of HBV-associated acute-on-chronic liver failure used peripheral blood mononuclear cells from affected patients for multi-omics profiling. Two cases of HBV-associated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis were reported with contrasting renal and survival outcomes after antiviral therapy, reinforcing the importance of recognizing HBV as a cause of immune-complex kidney disease. Another case report described acute hepatitis B infection escaping vaccination, emphasizing that vaccine failure or breakthrough infection can still occur. In oncology, hepatitis B positivity delayed chemotherapy in a case report of uterine lymphoma, illustrating how HBV status can alter treatment timing and supportive care. More broadly, a cancer prevention review identified hepatitis B virus as an oncogenic infection contributing to preventable cancer burden.

HBV also appeared in comparative and methodological studies. One deep-learning pathology study used hepatitis B virus cases as a comparator when developing an autoimmune hepatitis classifier from whole-slide images, showing that HBV remains an important differential diagnosis in liver pathology. Another study on gut inflammation in schistosomiasis accounted for HIV, hepatitis B, and malaria as covariates, reflecting HBV’s role as a relevant comorbidity in infectious disease research. A global cancer prevention article also placed hepatitis B alongside human papillomavirus as a major oncogenic infection targeted by prevention strategies.

Key Publications

• NEWJun Immunogenicity and safety of a 2 + 1 schedule of the DTaP-IPV-HB-Hib hexavalent combination vaccine in preterm infants in Spain. (Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 2026, PMID 42359964): "Post-dose 3 seroprotection rates were 100% against diphtheria (≥0.1 UI/mL), tetanus (≥0.1 UI/mL), and polio type 1/2/3 (≥8/dil), 94.5% against hepatitis B (≥10 mIU/mL), and 92.3% against polyribosylribitol phosphate (≥1 µg/mL)."
• NEWJun Assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding vaccinations among LGBTQIA+ community in Italy. (Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 2026, PMID 42348835): "This survey assessed knowledge, attitudes, and vaccinations coverage for Human Papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis A (HAV), hepatitis B (HBV), monkeypox (Mpox) and the associated determinants among 1944 LGBTQIA+ individuals in Italy."
• NEWJun From screening to care: a longitudinal implementation evaluation of a community-based hepatitis B program. (BMC public health, 2026, PMID 42316396): "Community-based hepatitis B virus (HBV) screening programs are widely used to identify chronic infection in high-risk immigrant populations in the United States."
• Jun Long-term protection following a primary series of hepatitis B vaccine in Alaska Native children and adults. (Hepatology communications, 2026, PMID 42319091): "Vaccination is effective at preventing chronic HBV infection and its complications, but the duration of protection and need for booster doses have not been determined."
• Jun Schistosoma mansoni Infections Are Associated With Fecal Calprotectin Markers of Gut Inflammation After Accounting for HIV, Hepatitis B, and Malaria. (The Journal of infectious diseases, 2026, PMID 42053313): "The role of gut inflammation for intestinal schistosomiasis remains poorly understood in chronically infected and repeatedly treated populations."
• Jun Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Induced Rapid Decline in Hepatitis B Virus Markers Improves the Prognosis of Hepatitis B Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients. (The Journal of infectious diseases, 2026, PMID 41540638): "Limited research exists on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs)' antiviral efficacy in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)."
• Jun High performance deep-learning model for the diagnosis of auto-immune hepatitis based on histological whole slide images. (Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology, 2026, PMID 42301307): "it achieved an AUC of 0,42 vs. Hepatitis B Virus and 0,76 vs. drug-induced liver injuries."
• Jun Two Cases of Hepatitis B Virus-associated Membranoproliferative Glomerulonephritis with Contrasting Renal and Survival Outcomes after Antiviral Therapy. (Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 2025, PMID 41224269): "We examined renal biopsy specimens from two men (ages 36 and 35 years) who had been diagnosed with chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis, were positive for hepatitis B virus (HBV)-e antigen and proteinuria, and diagnosed with HBV-associated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis."
• Jun Global Cancer Prevention: Current Approaches and Future Directions. (American Society of Clinical Oncology educational book. American Society of Clinical Oncology. Annual Meeting, 2026, PMID 42190157): "A large fraction of this burden is preventable through interventions directed at established modifiable risk factors, including tobacco, excess body weight, alcohol, ultraviolet and occupational exposures, and oncogenic infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B virus."
• Jun Multi-Omics Identified Factor V Leiden as a Novel Predictor of 90-Day Mortality in Artificial Liver-Supported ACLF: A Translational Study. (FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 2026, PMID 42186733): "For parallel transcriptomic and proteomic characterization, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were extracted from 15 patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated ACLF and 4 healthy subjects."