Reviewer’s report
Title: 
First-line oral antiviral therapies showed similar efficacies in suppression
of serum HBcrAg in chronic hepatitis B patients
Version: 
1 
Date: 
08 Jul 2020
Reviewer's report:
In this manuscript (BMGE-D-20-00620R1), the authors described the effect of
serum HBcrAg in the evaluation of first-line oral anti-hepatitis B virus clinical
treatment (ETV, TDF, and TAF). They compared changes of serum HBcrAg in
patients with different HBeAg status and different time points (weeks 0, 24, and
48), and selected HBV DNA and transaminase as references.
In this reviewer's opinion, the major regret of this manuscript is the lack of liver
puncture, including as well as the pathological evaluation of stage of
inflammation and fibrosis, and also the level of cccDNA in the tissue. And
HBsAg and cirrhosis are essential diagnostic and evaluation indicators for
hepatitis B patients, but these were not mentioned in the manuscript.
In addition, there are some minor problems in the article.
1. Because serum HBcrAg is a relatively rare detection method, it is
recommended that the author briefly introduce process of the HBcrAg detection
in the Materials and Methods.
2. Are there patients with HBeAg or HBsAg positive turned negative during
treatment? If so, whether the serum HBcrAg of these patients decreased more
significantly.
3. In Table 3, the authors described the cut-off valve of the undetectable of
HBcrAg and HBV DNA. They should be written in Materials and Methods to
facilitate readers.
4. In Figure 4, the ordinate is not 0-100%so recommend author to increase the
specific value of the ordinate.
5. In the Conclusion of the abstract, the author indicated that "the HBcrAg
reduction was numerically greater in tenofovir-treated group". However, Figure 4
showed that there are more undetectable HBcrAg patients in ETV-treated than
tenofovir-treated group. So, the gap of HBcrAg level between the two groups is
not very clear, and the sentence is not recommended to mentioned in the Results
and Summary.
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No
Are the methods appropriate and well described?
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.
Yes
Does the work include the necessary controls?
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the
authors.
No
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.
Yes
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you
recommend an additional statistical review?
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects
require further assessment in your comments to the editors.
I am able to assess the statistics
Quality of written English
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:
Needs some language corrections before being published
Declaration of competing interests
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following
questions:
1
. 
Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or
salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially
from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?
2
. 
Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way
gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now
or in the future?
3
. 
Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the
content of the manuscript?
4
. 
Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an
organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of
the manuscript?
5
. 
Do you have any other financial competing interests?
6
. 
Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this
paper?
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing
interests' below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Reviewer Publication Consent.
 I agree for my report to be made available
under an Open Access Creative Commons CC-BY License (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
) if this manuscript is accepted for
publication. Any comments that I do not wish to be included in the published
report have been included as confidential comments to the editor, which will not
be published.
If you are not happy for us to publish this report, please contact the editorial
office before completing the review.
If you wish, you can include your name in your published report. Please note
you must decide whether to include your name at the start of the process and
confirm this decision whenever prompted. If you change your decision later, we
will not be able to publish your name.
I agree to the terms of the CC-BY 4.0 license; please 
do not
 publish my name
with my report. (default)
Reviewer’s report
Title: 
First-line oral antiviral therapies showed similar efficacies in suppression
of serum HBcrAg in chronic hepatitis B patients
Version: 
1 
Date: 
08 Jul 2020
Reviewer's report:
In this manuscript (BMGE-D-20-00620R1), the authors described the effect of
serum HBcrAg in the evaluation of first-line oral anti-hepatitis B virus clinical
treatment (ETV, TDF, and TAF). They compared changes of serum HBcrAg in
patients with different HBeAg status and different time points (weeks 0, 24, and
48), and selected HBV DNA and transaminase as references.
In this reviewer's opinion, the major regret of this manuscript is the lack of liver
puncture, including as well as the pathological evaluation of stage of
inflammation and fibrosis, and also the level of cccDNA in the tissue. And
HBsAg and cirrhosis are essential diagnostic and evaluation indicators for
hepatitis B patients, but these were not mentioned in the manuscript.
In addition, there are some minor problems in the article.
1. Because serum HBcrAg is a relatively rare detection method, it is
recommended that the author briefly introduce process of the HBcrAg detection
in the Materials and Methods.
2. Are there patients with HBeAg or HBsAg positive turned negative during
treatment? If so, whether the serum HBcrAg of these patients decreased more
significantly.
3. In Table 3, the authors described the cut-off valve of the undetectable of
HBcrAg and HBV DNA. They should be written in Materials and Methods to
facilitate readers.
4. In Figure 4, the ordinate is not 0-100%so recommend author to increase the
specific value of the ordinate.
5. In the Conclusion of the abstract, the author indicated that "the HBcrAg
reduction was numerically greater in tenofovir-treated group". However, Figure 4
showed that there are more undetectable HBcrAg patients in ETV-treated than
tenofovir-treated group. So, the gap of HBcrAg level between the two groups is
not very clear, and the sentence is not recommended to mentioned in the Results
and Summary.
Publons Reviewer Recognition
. Springer Nature can send verification of this
review directly to Publons (a subsidiary of Clarivate Analytics). If you would
like to take advantage of this service, please click on the “Yes” option below.
Your name, email address, title of the reviewed manuscript, name of the journal,
and date of your review submission (the “Review Data”) will then be transmitted
to Publons after the final decision on the manuscript has been made. If you have
already registered at Publons, they will notify you of the receipt of this review
and update your profile 
as per your settings and their policy. If you are not
registered with Publons, you will receive an email from them asking you to
register in order for them to be able to recognize your review on your new
profile page. Publons may use the Review Data to generate derivative metadata
for the benefit of Publons and you as a reviewer, carefully considering the
sensitivity of such information. For example, Publons may verify your record as
a reviewer by updating your profile published on its webservice if you have
registered for such service or help editors to identify candidate reviewers. Please
find the details of processing in Publons’ privacy policy
https://publons.com/about/terms
No
Are the methods appropriate and well described?
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.
Yes
Does the work include the necessary controls?
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the
authors.
No
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.
Yes
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you
recommend an additional statistical review?
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects
require further assessment in your comments to the editors.
I am able to assess the statistics
Quality of written English
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:
Needs some language corrections before being published
Declaration of competing interests
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following
questions:
1
. 
Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or
salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially
from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?
2
. 
Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way
gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now
or in the future?
3
. 
Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the
content of the manuscript?
4
. 
Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an
organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of
the manuscript?
5
. 
Do you have any other financial competing interests?
6
. 
Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this
paper?
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing
interests' below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Reviewer Publication Consent.
 I agree for my report to be made available
under an Open Access Creative Commons CC-BY License (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
) if this manuscript is accepted for
publication. Any comments that I do not wish to be included in the published
report have been included as confidential comments to the editor, which will not
be published.
If you are not happy for us to publish this report, please contact the editorial
office before completing the review.
If you wish, you can include your name in your published report. Please note
you must decide whether to include your name at the start of the process and
confirm this decision whenever prompted. If you change your decision later, we
will not be able to publish your name.
I agree to the terms of the CC-BY 4.0 license; please 
do not
 publish my name
with my report. (default)
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer’s report
Title: 
First-line oral antiviral therapies showed similar efficacies in suppression
of serum HBcrAg in chronic hepatitis B patients
Version: 
1 
Date: 
08 Jul 2020
Reviewer's report:
In this manuscript (BMGE-D-20-00620R1), the authors described the effect of
serum HBcrAg in the evaluation of first-line oral anti-hepatitis B virus clinical
treatment (ETV, TDF, and TAF). They compared changes of serum HBcrAg in
patients with different HBeAg status and different time points (weeks 0, 24, and
48), and selected HBV DNA and transaminase as references.
In this reviewer's opinion, the major regret of this manuscript is the lack of liver
puncture, including as well as the pathological evaluation of stage of
inflammation and fibrosis, and also the level of cccDNA in the tissue. And
HBsAg and cirrhosis are essential diagnostic and evaluation indicators for
hepatitis B patients, but these were not mentioned in the manuscript.
In addition, there are some minor problems in the article.
1. Because serum HBcrAg is a relatively rare detection method, it is
recommended that the author briefly introduce process of the HBcrAg detection
in the Materials and Methods.
2. Are there patients with HBeAg or HBsAg positive turned negative during
treatment? If so, whether the serum HBcrAg of these patients decreased more
significantly.
3. In Table 3, the authors described the cut-off valve of the undetectable of
HBcrAg and HBV DNA. They should be written in Materials and Methods to
facilitate readers.
4. In Figure 4, the ordinate is not 0-100%so recommend author to increase the
specific value of the ordinate.
5. In the Conclusion of the abstract, the author indicated that "the HBcrAg
reduction was numerically greater in tenofovir-treated group". However, Figure 4
showed that there are more undetectable HBcrAg patients in ETV-treated than
tenofovir-treated group. So, the gap of HBcrAg level between the two groups is
not very clear, and the sentence is not recommended to mentioned in the Results
and Summary.
Publons Reviewer Recognition
. Springer Nature can send verification of this
review directly to Publons (a subsidiary of Clarivate Analytics). If you would
like to take advantage of this service, please click on the “Yes” option below.
Your name, email address, title of the reviewed manuscript, name of the journal,
and date of your review submission (the “Review Data”) will then be transmitted
to Publons after the final decision on the manuscript has been made. If you have
already registered at Publons, they will notify you of the receipt of this review
and update your profile 
as per your settings and their policy. If you are not
registered with Publons, you will receive an email from them asking you to
register in order for them to be able to recognize your review on your new
profile page. Publons may use the Review Data to generate derivative metadata
for the benefit of Publons and you as a reviewer, carefully considering the
sensitivity of such information. For example, Publons may verify your record as
a reviewer by updating your profile published on its webservice if you have
registered for such service or help editors to identify candidate reviewers. Please
find the details of processing in Publons’ privacy policy
https://publons.com/about/terms
No
Are the methods appropriate and well described?
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.
Yes
Does the work include the necessary controls?
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the
authors.
No
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.
Yes
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you
recommend an additional statistical review?
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects
require further assessment in your comments to the editors.
I am able to assess the statistics
Quality of written English
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:
Needs some language corrections before being published
Declaration of competing interests
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following
questions:
1
. 
Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or
salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially
from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?
2
. 
Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way
gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now
or in the future?
3
. 
Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the
content of the manuscript?
4
. 
Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an
organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of
the manuscript?
5
. 
Do you have any other financial competing interests?
6
. 
Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this
paper?
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing
interests' below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Reviewer Publication Consent.
 I agree for my report to be made available
under an Open Access Creative Commons CC-BY License (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
) if this manuscript is accepted for
publication. Any comments that I do not wish to be included in the published
report have been included as confidential comments to the editor, which will not
be published.
If you are not happy for us to publish this report, please contact the editorial
office before completing the review.
If you wish, you can include your name in your published report. Please note
you must decide whether to include your name at the start of the process and
confirm this decision whenever prompted. If you change your decision later, we
will not be able to publish your name.
I agree to the terms of the CC-BY 4.0 license; please 
do not
 publish my name
with my report. (default)
assistant