Characterization of inflammatory protein expression patterns and their association with viral DNA load in hepatitis B virus infection via Olink proteomics analysis.

Objectives: To investigate the differential expression of inflammatory proteins in the sera of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) using Olink Targeted Proteomics and to explore their correlations with viral deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) load.

Methods: This retrospective study included 66 CHB patients and 22 healthy controls, with medical records collected between January and December 2023 at Nanning Customs, China. Viral DNA loads were quantified using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and 92 inflammatory proteins were profiled using Olink Targeted Proteomics.

Results: A total of 38 proteins were differentially expressed between CHB patients and healthy controls, of which 7 were upregulated and 31 were downregulated. Correlation analysis revealed that viral DNA load was positively associated with the expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) (P = 0.021) and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 9 (CXCL9) (P = 0.002), and negatively associated with interleukin-10 (IL-10) (P = 0.007), cluster of differentiation 40 (CD40) (P = 0.004), and caspase-8 (CASP8) (P = 0.020). Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these proteins were mainly enriched in neutrophil chemotaxis, granulocyte migration, chemokine signaling pathways, cytokine activity, chemokine activity receptors, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptors.

Conclusions: Specific inflammatory proteins, including OPG, CXCL9, IL-10, CD40, CASP8, are associated with viral DNA load in CHB patients. These findings enhance the proteomic understanding of HBV pathogenesis and may offer potential therapeutic targets and biomarkers.