B cell activation gene signature in blood and liver of HBeAg+ immune active chronic hepatitis B patients

In this study, we performed an unbiased characterization of total CD19+ B cells purified from peripheral blood of immune active chronic HBV patients and showed that HBV induced a B cell activation gene signature in blood but did not significantly induce interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). Overall design: We conducted RNA-seq on FACS purified peripheral blood CD19+ B cells of healthy controls (CTRL), chronic HBV and HCV patients. Patients that did not receive antiviral treatment with relatively high viral load and/or liver inflammation were selected for this study.