Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the response to tenofovir antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with different HBV genotype infection. Methods A total of 119 patients with CHB were enrolled in our hospital between January 2017 and November 2020, and all received tenofovir therapy. The HBV genotypes were detected. Serum metallothionein (MT) and interleukin-29 (IL-29) levels were assayed by ELISA. The programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) expression on peripheral blood lymphocytes was detected by FCM. Results Out of the 119 patients with CHB, the HBV genotype B infection was found in 31 cases(26.1%), genotype C infection was found in 77 cases (64.7%) and genotype B/C mixed infection in 11 patients (9.2%); at baseline, serum ALT and AST levels in CHB patients with genotype B infection were (154.1±46.7)U/L and (83.3±26.8)U/L, significantly higher than [(135.8±40.3)U/L and (68.5±20.6)U/L, P＜0.05] in patients with C infection or[(138.9±50.2)U/L and (71.6±23.9)U/L, P＜0.05] in B/C mixed infection, while serum HBV DNA load was (6.7±1.1)lg copies/ml, significantly lower than [(7.8±1.4)lg copies/ml, P＜0.05] in C or[(7.4±1.0)lg copies/ml, P＜0.05] in B/C infection; at the end of 24 week and 48 week treatment, there were no significant differences as respect to serum ALT normalization rates in the three groups (P>0.05), while serum HBV DNA loss in patients with B and C infection were 96.8% and 96.8%, and 88.3% and 93.5%, all significantly higher than 63.6% and 81.8% (P<0.05) in patients with B/C mixed infection; at the end of 48 week treatment, serum MT level in patients with B infection was significantly higher than in patients with C or B/C infection (P＜0.05), serum IL-29 level was significantly higher than in patients with C infection (P＜0.05), while the PD-1 expression on peripheral blood CD4⁺ and CD8⁺T cell surfaces was significantly lower than in patients with C or B/C infection (P＜0.05). Conclusion The antiviral response to tenofovir treatment in CHB patients with different HBV genotype infection could be different, and further investigation on this might help deal with them appropriately in clinical practice and improve the outcomes of them.

Key words: Hepatitis B, HBV genotype, Tenofovir, Therapy