中文摘要：

AIM： To evaluate tumor necrosis factor-α convertingenzyme （TACE） methylation status in patients withchronic hepatitis B （CHB）.METHODS： Eighty patients with hepatitis B e antigen（HBeAg）-positive CHB, 80 with HBeAg-negative CHB,and 40 healthy controls （HCs） were randomly enrolled inthis study. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheralblood mononuclear cells and methylation status ofTACE promoter was determined by methylation-specificpolymerase chain reaction. The clinical and laboratoryparameters were collected.RESULTS： One hundred and thirty of 160 patients withCHB （81.25%） and 38 of 40 HCs （95%） displayed TACEpromoter methylation. The difference was significant （χ^2 = 4.501, P 〈 0.05）. TACE promoter methylationfrequency in HBeAg-positive CHB （58/80, 72.5%） wassignificantly lower than that in HBeAg-negative CHB（72/80, 90%; χ^2 = 8.041, P 〈 0.01） and HCs （χ^2 =8.438, P 〈 0.01）. However, no significant difference wasobserved in the methylation frequency between HBeAgnegativeCHB and HCs （χ ^2 = 0.873, P 〉 0.05）. In theHBeAg-positive group, TACE methylation frequencywas significantly negatively correlated with HBeAg （r =-0.602, P 〈 0.01）, alanine aminotransferase （r = -0.461,P 〈 0.01） and aspartate aminotransferase （r = -0.329,P 〈 0.01）.CONCLUSION： Patients with HBeAg-positive CHBhave aberrant demethylation of the TACE promoter,which may potentially serve as a biomarker for HBeAgseroconversion.