Abstract: Objective The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical implication of serum aquaporin-8 (AQP8) and aquaporin-9 (AQP9) in patients with hepatitis B-induced liver cirrhosis (LC) receiving long-term entecavir therapy. Methods A total of 83 patients with hepatitis B-induced LC who received long-term entecavir therapy were enrolled in our hospital between January 2019 and June 2020. Serum AQP8 and AQP9 levels were detected by full-automatic electrochemiluminescence analyzer. The Logistic regression model was applied to analyze the risk factors for disease deterioration. Results There were significant differences as respect to the courses of disease longer than 10 yr(63.0% vs. 33.9%), antiviral therapy longer than 5 yrs (25.9% vs. 62.5%), serum albumin levels(31.4±1.9 g/L vs. 37.9±2.3 g/L)platelet counts (73.8±7.5×109/L vs. 109.6±6.8×109/L), serum AQP8 levels(20.5±2.8 μg/L vs. 12.6±2.1μg/L), serum AQP9 levels (10.1±1.7 μg/L vs. 6.0±1.0 μg/L) and MELD scores (21.5±3.5对13.6±2.9) between 27 patients with decompensated and 56 patients with compensated LC(P<0.05); the multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the short antiviral therapy, serum AQP8≥15.2 μg/L and MELD score ≥19.5 were the independent risk factors for disease deterioration of LC(P<0.05); serum AQP8 and AQP9 levels in 19 patients with ascites were (19.5±2.8)μg/L and (10.7±1.3)μg/L, both significantly higher than [(13.9±2.1)μg/L and (6.3±0.9)μg/L, respectively, P<0.05] in 64 patients without ascites; serum AQP8 and AQP9 levels in 13 patients with hepatic encephalopathy (HE) were (20.3±2.6)μg/L and (9.7±1.3)μg/L, significantly higher than [(14.2±2.4)μg/L and (6.9±1.1)μg/L, respectively, P<0.05] in 70 patients without HE. Conclusion Serum AQP8 level elevation might hint disease deterioration in patients with hepatitis B-induced LC receiving long-term entecavir therapy, which warrants further clinical investigation.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, Hepatitis B, Entecavir, Aquaporin-8, Aquaporin-9, Complications