Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease may increase intrahepatic interferon gene signatures in patients with chronic hepatitis B

As metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) frequently co_x0002_occurs in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), the interplay between these two common liver conditions remains largely unexplored. A recent study suggest that MASH comorbidity can reduce intrahepatic interferon pathway activity and macrophage gene signatures in HBeAg_x0002_negative chronic HBV (ENEG) patients, potentially contributing to persistent infection and fibrosis. However, it remains unclear whether this phenomenon also occurs in MASLD with CHB patients. Firstly, we evaluated the results in our cohort of CHB patients. Liver samples from seven ENEG patients and eleven ENEG patients with MASLD were analyzed using RNA-seq. Further, we validated our findings through an animal study. rAAV8-1.3 HBV was administered intravenously to C57BL/6 mice to mimic chronic HBV infection. A high-fat diet was maintained for 16 weeks to establish the MASLD model ,We collected livers from each group of mice and sent the livers for RNA-seq analysis.