Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Clin Cases. Sep 26, 2026; 14(27): 126695
Published online Sep 26, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.126695
Published online Sep 26, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.126695
Precision stratification for hepatitis B functional cure: Biomarkers, machine learning and the combination-therapy era
Ahmed Salman, Department of Internal Medicine, Kasr Alainy School of Medicine, Cairo 11559, Al Qāhirah, Egypt
Author contributions: Salman A contributed to the conception and design of the review, the literature search, and drafting of the manuscript; data interpretation, and critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content.
AI contribution statement: ChatGPT (OpenAI; ChatGPT 5.6) assisted with literature searching, language editing, grammatical correction, and figure design. All AI-assisted content was reviewed and verified by the author, who takes full responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, and originality of the final work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares that he has no conflict of interest to disclose.
Corresponding author: Ahmed Salman, FRACP, FRCP, Department of Internal Medicine, Kasr Alainy School of Medicine, 1 Al-Saray Street, Al-Manial, Cairo 11559, Al Qāhirah, Egypt.
Received: August 11, 2026
Revised: September 22, 2026
Accepted: October 9, 2026
Published online: September 26, 2026
Processing time: 63 Days and 21.5 Hours
Revised: September 22, 2026
Accepted: October 9, 2026
Published online: September 26, 2026
Processing time: 63 Days and 21.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: A low baseline hepatitis B surface antigen level is associated with response to several investigational regimens, but it should not be treated as a universal treatment-selection threshold. This minireview distinguishes functional cure from other antigen endpoints, separates baseline selection from on-treatment prediction, and appraises model validation, safety, and external validity. No integrated model is available for allocating curative regimens. Hepatocellular carcinoma risk persists after antigen loss; current guideline-based surveillance should continue where indicated, whereas prospective studies should evaluate risk-based refinement.