The invention provides a method for detecting the presence of altered serum proteins in an Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)-infected patient with liver inflammation, comprising: obtaining a sample of serum from the patient; subjecting the sample to protein gel electrophoresis to separate proteins contained therein; staining proteins separated on the electrophoresis gel with silver nitrate solution; scanning the images of stained proteins into an image analysis scanner to obtain gel images; comparing the gel images to control samples of electrophoresis gels prepared from serum of normal patient and serum of HBV-infected patient with liver inflammation to determine whether the sample of serum from the patient contains specific serum proteins. This invention also provides serum protein biomarkers for the diagnosis of patients with HBV infection and liver inflammation.