Significance of hepatitis B virus genotypes A to E in a cohort of patients with chronic hepatitis B in the Seine Saint Denis District of Paris (France)

✍ Scribed by Nathalie Ganne-Carrié; Virginie Williams; Halima Kaddouri; Jean-Claude Trinchet; Samira Dziri-Mendil; Chakib Alloui; Nasser Al Hawajri; Paul Dény; Michel Beaugrand; Emmanuel Gordien

• Book ID: 102380693
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 104 KB
• Volume: 78
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.20545

✦ Synopsis

The aim of this study was to examine the genetic variability of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and its significance. HBV genotypes, core promoter and precore mutants were characterized in 109 consecutive patients with biopsy-proven HBV chronic hepatitis. Genotypes A (26.6%), B (12.8%), C (18.3%), D (18.3%), and E (14.7%) indicate a wide genotypic distribution. Patients were from Asia (30.3%), Europe (28.4%), Sub Saharan Africa (23.9%), the Caribbean (10.1%), North Africa (5.5%), and Madagascar (1.8%). HBV genotypes A and D (HBV/A and /D) infected all subgroups except Asian patients. HBV/B or /C were found in 97% of Asian patients, whereas HBV/E only infected sub-Saharan African and Caribbean patients. Differences according to genotypes were: an increased prevalence of anti-HBe antibodies in patients infected with HBV/D (P ¼ 0.003), higher serum transaminases in patients infected with HBV/A and/D (P ¼ 0.043), more severe liver fibrosis in patients infected with HBV/A, /C and/D (P ¼ 0.02). Precore and core promoter mutants were found in 87% of anti-HBe positive patients, and were associated with HBV/D (P ¼ 0.04) and severe liver fibrosis (P ¼ 0.002). It is concluded that HBV genotypes A, B, C, D, and E circulate in the Seine Saint Denis District, reflecting the geographical origin of patients. HBV/A, /C and/D seem to be associated with more severe hepatic disease.