ArticleBMC infectious diseases2026
Elevated serum TIM4 is associated with disease severity and serves as a potential predictive biomarker in chronic hepatitis B.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
backgroundChronic hepatitis B (CHB), caused by persistent hepatitis B virus infection, is largely immune-mediated, and biomarkers to identify patients at risk for severe disease are needed.
methodsIn a hospital-based cross-sectional study at the Department of Infectious Disease, The First Hospital of Changsha City (January 2024-October 2025), we enrolled 119 CHB patients (89 non-severe and 30 severe) and 41 healthy controls. Serum T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing protein 4 (TIM4) was quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and associations with routine laboratory indices and severe CHB were evaluated using correlation analyses, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.
resultsSerum TIM4 was significantly higher in CHB patients than in controls (p < 0.01) and was higher in severe than in non-severe CHB (p < 0.05). TIM4 correlated positively with alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and bilirubin levels (p < 0.05) and negatively correlated with platelet count (p < 0.01). In both univariate and multivariate (age- and sex-adjusted) analyses, TIM4 was associated with severe CHB (OR = 1.005, p = 0.022). ROC analysis demonstrated an AUC of 0.640 (p = 0.022).
conclusionSerum TIM4 levels are elevated in CHB and are associated with disease severity. TIM4 may serve as a supplementary biomarker for severity assessment; however, further multi-center and longitudinal studies are required to confirm its clinical value.
trial registrationNot applicable. This is a cross-sectional study and was therefore not registered as a clinical trial.
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