•72 CHB patients.
•The amount of positive immunohistochemical staining of CD34, CK7, and CK19 was calculated, as well as the amount of fibrous collagen deposition in Masson trichrome staining and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by FibroTouch.
•The ROC curve was used to analyze the value of LSM in the diagnosis of hepatitis B cirrhosis, and the logistic regression model was used for multivariate analysis.

•With the increase in inflammation degree, there was no significant change in the amount of positive staining of CD34 (P > 0.05) , while there were significant increases in the amount of positive staining of CK19 and the amount of fibrous collagen deposition (H = 9.02 and 14.12, P = 0.011 and 0.001).
•With the progression of liver fibrosis, there were significant increases in the amount of positive staining of CD34 and CK7 and the amount of fibrous collagen deposition (H = 10.26, 16.29, and 22.97, P = 0.016, 0.001, and < 0.001).
•The logistic regression analysis showed that the amount of positive staining of CK7 (Wald = 4.756, P = 0.029) and the amount of fibrous collagen deposition (Wald = 4.757, P = 0.029) were independent influencing factors for FibroTouch measurements.