Out of the 313 co-regulated genes in our HBV-infected PHHs, 191 were differentially expressed (121 down-regulated; 70 up-regulated; Table S11) in liver biopsy samples of HBV chronic hepatitis (CH) patients (CH HBe pos, N = 15 + CH HBe neg, n = 16) as compared to non-HBV infected healthy liver (HL) samples (N = 9) (Fig. 8a; Fig. 8b, upper panel). Here, HBE1 is linked to chronic hepatitis.