ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Infectious Diseases
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1603286
This article is part of the Research TopicPerspectives in Clinical Infectious Diseases: 2024/2025View all 13 articles
Serum Ferritin as a Predictive Biomarker for PEG IFNα-2b Efficacy in Chronic Hepatitis B Treatment
Provisionally accepted- 1Fujian Medical University, China, Fuzhou, China
- 2Department of Gastroenterology, Zhongshan Hospital, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) caused by HBV infection leads to persistent liver inflammation. PEG IFNα-2b shows higher functional cure rates than oral antivirals, but identifying optimal candidates remains challenging. This study evaluates serum ferritin as a predictive biomarker for PEG IFNα-2b efficacy.: Serum ferritin, HBsAg and transaminase were monitored in CHB patients treated with PEG IFN α-2b at baseline (0w), 12w and 24w. Patients were divided into the effective group (HBsAg reduction ≥1 log10 IU/mL or clearance) and the ineffective group (HBsAg reduction <1 log10 IU/mL) at 24 weeks. Similarly, for the results at 48 weeks, the patients were divided into the clearance group (achieving HBsAg clearance) and the non-clearance group (not achieving HBsAg clearance). To analyze the correlation between serum ferritin and the decrease of HBsAg, a multivariate logistic regression model was constructed. Potential confounding factors such as age, gender, HBeAg and HBV DNA status, ALT, AST, and iron metabolism indicators (FE, TIBC, TS)were included to evaluate the independent predictive effect of ferritin levels on the therapeutic effectiveness,calculate the corrected OR value and 95% CI. The predictive effect was evaluated by the ROC curve.Results: Among patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who completed the PEG IFNα-2b course of treatment, the serum ferritin levels of all patients showed an increasing trend at baseline and during the treatment process, and the serum ferritin level in the effective treatment group (HBsAg reduction ≥1 log10 IU/mL or clearance) was significantly higher than that in the ineffective treatment group. It was confirmed by Spearman's rank correlation analysis that the serum ferritin level was positively correlated with the decrease in HBsAg. Further analysis through the multivariate logistic regression model revealed that serum ferritin remained an independent predictor of the antiviral efficacy of PEG IFNα-2b. ROC curve analysis indicated that serum ferritin had a high predictive value for the antiviral efficacy of PEG IFNα-2b.The level of serum ferritin is closely related to the anti-hepatitis B virus efficacy of PEG IFNα-2b. It has great potential as a reliable and economical biomarker to guide treatment and optimize treatment strategies.
Keywords: Chronic hepatitis B, Serum ferritin, HBsAg, PEG IFN-α2b, ALT
Received: 31 Mar 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Cai, Lin and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Meiya Chen, Fujian Medical University, China, Fuzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.