Letter to the Editor: New kid in the playground: HBcrAg and risk of HCC.

We read with great interest the article entitled "Comparison of Novel Biomarkers with Conventional HBV Markers among Untreated Adults with Chronic Hepatitis B in North America" by Ghany et al.1 Patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) are at risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and serum markers reflecting viral replication could serve as HCC predictors. In addition to serum HBV DNA, hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) and HBV RNA levels are two novel viral biomarkers correlated with levels of intrahepatic covalently closed circular DNA.2,3.