{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T11:10:48Z","timestamp":1785409848738,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]],"date-time":"2026-06-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781049600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre","award":["CRFM006\/JU25"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CRFM006\/JU25"]}]},{"award":["CRFM006\/JU25"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CRFM006\/JU25"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00x0zah42","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diseases"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major global health challenge and a leading cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a key pro-inflammatory cytokine, plays an important role in immune regulation and hepatic inflammation. However, its relationship with HBV viral load and disease severity remains incompletely understood. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 293 HBsAg-positive patients. Serum IL-6 levels were measured using ELISA, and HBV DNA was quantified using real-time quantitative PCR. Patients were stratified according to viral load. Statistical analyses included non-parametric tests, Spearman correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), and multiple linear regression. Results: The median age was 45 years (IQR: 34\u201357), among which 54.6% were male. The median HBV DNA was 3.37 log10 IU\/mL (IQR: 2.45\u20133.75), and IL-6 concentration was 2.38 log10 pg\/mL (IQR: 2.21\u20132.49). IL-6 levels increased significantly across viral load categories (p &lt; 0.001) and were higher in HBeAg-positive patients (p = 0.002), with no significant differences across age, sex, or cirrhosis. IL-6 levels correlated with HBV DNA (r = 0.40, p &lt; 0.001). PCA identified distinct viral-inflammatory and biochemical axes. Regression analysis confirmed HBV DNA as the significant independent predictor (\u03b2 = 0.461, p &lt; 0.001; adjusted R2 = 0.206). Conclusion: IL-6 was closely associated with HBV DNA levels, while the association with conventional biochemical markers of hepatocellular injury was significantly less in this cohort, suggesting that IL-6 may serve as an adjunct biomarker of disease activity in patients with chronic hepatitis B.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diseases14060209","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T00:48:35Z","timestamp":1781138915000},"page":"209","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Serum Interleukin-6 as an Inflammatory Biomarker Associated with HBV Viral Load in HBsAg-Positive Chronic Hepatitis B"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4001-6923","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jayakrishna","family":"Pamarthi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu 603203, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sugan","family":"Panneerselvam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu 603203, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nanda","family":"Amarnath Rajesh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical Gastroenterology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu 603203, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Venkataratna Bharat","family":"Gangireddy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Medicine, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu 603203, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohanram","family":"Murugan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Medicine, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu 603203, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Leela Kakithara","family":"Vajaravelu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu 603203, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jayaprakash","family":"Thulukanam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu 603203, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-8269-1934","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mansour","family":"Alanazi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Northern Border University, Arar 91431, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1355-5833","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janardanan Subramonia","family":"Kumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Medicine, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu 603203, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2024). 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