Frequency of hepatitis B virus e-minus mutants varies among patients from different areas of China
✍ Scribed by Tu, Hong; Xiong, Si-Dong; Trepo, Christian; Wen, Yu-Mei
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 39 KB
- Volume
- 51
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0146-6615
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✦ Synopsis
1992]. In a previous study of e-minus HBV strains in Four hundred forty-six serum samples from China, we have detected ten types of precore variants HBsAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients were with mutations in the nucleotide sequences of the precollected from five areas in China (eastern coastal core region [Wei et al., 1994]. Among the variants, six city, Shanghai; southwestern inland city, Chentypes had either only a TGG to TAG mutation at precore gdu; mid-inland city, Wuhan; southern island codon 28 (A28 mutant) or the A28 mutation in combinacity, Haikou; and northeastern city, Changchun).
tion with other mutations. One variant had a ATG to Precore stop codon variants (e-minus mutants)
CTG mutation at the initiation codon, and the remainwere screened using a rapid method of polymerder of the sequence did not have changes which would ase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of a prehamper the secretion of HBeAg [Wei et al., 1994]. It core and partial core gene fragment (nucleotides has been reported that patients infected with e-minus 1785-2172), followed by dot-blot hybridization mutants have a prolonged time course and more severe with specific oligonucleotide probes (M0, and form of hepatitis [Yokosuka and Bonino, 1994; Omata, M1 ϩ M2). The sequence of the M0 probe covet al., 1991]. However, other reports found e-minus variered the distal precore region of wild-type virus ants in patients irrespective of their clinical status, (nucleotides 1887-1908), and the sequences of ethnic origin, or subtypes of HBV [Turkaspa et al., the M1 and M2 probes were from sequences mu-1992]. In a recent review by Hadziyannis [1995], the tated at nt. 1898, (TGGrTAG) with or without epidemiology, clinical manifestations, pathogenesis, additional change at nt. 1901. A significantly and response to treatment of HBeAg-negative chronic lower incidence of the precore stop codon was hepatitis B have been fully presented and discussed. found in anti-HBe-positive serum samples from Since China is a country of very marked diversity with Haikou (17.6%), whereas in other areas the pera large population of HBV-infected patients, we decided centages of this mutation in anti-HBe positive to investigate the frequency of the A28 precore variant sera ranged from 47.4% to 78.9%. In HBeAg-posiin 446 serum samples from five distinct areas of the tive samples, the rate of e-minus mutant in coexcountry. istence with wild-type virus was low in specimens from Haikou (9.5%) and Changchun (2.9%) MATERIALS AND METHODS compared to other areas in China. In contrast,
Serum Samples coexistence of mutant and wild-type virus was
Four hundred forty-six serum samples from adult frequently detected in samples from Wuhan HBsAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients, with a pro-(50.0%).