Title: Anti-HBc: a significant host predictor of spontaneous HBsAg seroclearance in chronic
hepatitis B patients - a retrospective longitudinal study
Version: 1 Date: 31 Aug 2023
Reviewer's report:
The authors did plenty of work to demonstrate that plasma anti-HBc level can serve as a potential
predictor for subsequent HBsAg seroclearance. It has good clinical value for predicting the
prognosis of the chronic hepatitis B patients. But some questions need to be answered as follows:
1.Did the patients in control group not received antiviral treatment yet? The powerful, low-
resistance antivirals are readily available.
2.The plasma anti-HBc levels at 1 – 0 years before HBsAg seroclearance, at the cut-off value of
82.50 COI, the sensitivity and specificity for discriminating s-losers from controls was 68.3%
and 90.0%, respectively. Can try to increase the sensitivity of the forecast by combining the
decline of the plasma anti-HBc level? Or whether the decline of the plasma anti-HBc level has
predictve value?
Title: Anti-HBc: a significant host predictor of spontaneous HBsAg seroclearance in chronic
hepatitis B patients - a retrospective longitudinal study
Version: 1 Date: 31 Aug 2023
Reviewer's report:
The authors did plenty of work to demonstrate that plasma anti-HBc level can serve as a potential
predictor for subsequent HBsAg seroclearance. It has good clinical value for predicting the
prognosis of the chronic hepatitis B patients. But some questions need to be answered as follows:
1.Did the patients in control group not received antiviral treatment yet? The powerful, low-
resistance antivirals are readily available.
2.The plasma anti-HBc levels at 1 – 0 years before HBsAg seroclearance, at the cut-off value of
82.50 COI, the sensitivity and specificity for discriminating s-losers from controls was 68.3%
and 90.0%, respectively. Can try to increase the sensitivity of the forecast by combining the
decline of the plasma anti-HBc level? Or whether the decline of the plasma anti-HBc level has
predictve value?
Please review this paper.
user
Title: Anti-HBc: a significant host predictor of spontaneous HBsAg seroclearance in chronic
hepatitis B patients - a retrospective longitudinal study
Version: 1 Date: 31 Aug 2023
Reviewer's report:
The authors did plenty of work to demonstrate that plasma anti-HBc level can serve as a potential
predictor for subsequent HBsAg seroclearance. It has good clinical value for predicting the
prognosis of the chronic hepatitis B patients. But some questions need to be answered as follows:
1.Did the patients in control group not received antiviral treatment yet? The powerful, low-
resistance antivirals are readily available.
2.The plasma anti-HBc levels at 1 – 0 years before HBsAg seroclearance, at the cut-off value of
82.50 COI, the sensitivity and specificity for discriminating s-losers from controls was 68.3%
and 90.0%, respectively. Can try to increase the sensitivity of the forecast by combining the
decline of the plasma anti-HBc level? Or whether the decline of the plasma anti-HBc level has
predictve value?
assistant