@article {MARALLAG1175, author = {MARNONETTE MARALLAG and AMITKUMAR PATEL and MYUNGHAN CHOI and MARK N. WONG and ANIL B. SEETHARAM}, title = {Profiling Neutrophil{\textendash}to{\textendash}Lymphocyte Ratio Changes in Response to Nucleoside Analog Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis B Infection}, volume = {31}, number = {6}, pages = {1175--1177}, year = {2017}, publisher = {International Institute of Anticancer Research}, abstract = {Background/Aim: The neutrophil{\textendash}lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has gained attention as an index of inflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV); however, changes with nucleoside analog therapy require investigation. Patients and Methods: We carried out a retrospective study identifying monoinfected HBV patients initiated on therapy with NLR follow-up over 1 year. Biochemistries recorded at treatment initiation and 1 year included alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Model for End Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, and NLR. Results: A total of 67 patients were initiated on therapy and had baseline characteristics including e-antigen (eAg) (50, 74.6\%) and cirrhosis (19, 28.4\%). On subgroup analysis among those with HBV-associated cirrhosis, the NLR decreased over 1 year (3.08{\textpm}0.39 vs. 1.77{\textpm}0.18, p\<0.001) as did MELD and ALT. Among the non-cirrhotic cohort, there was no difference in NLR (1.99{\textpm}0.89 vs. 2.14{\textpm}1.03, p=0.134) despite a decrease in ALT. Conclusion: Nucleoside analog therapy in HBV cirrhosis is associated with a decrease in NLR over 1 year that tracks with changes of established indices of inflammation/global hepatic function.}, issn = {0258-851X}, URL = {https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/31/6/1175}, eprint = {https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/31/6/1175.full.pdf}, journal = {In Vivo} }