Advertisement

Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI115500

Detection of pre-C and core region mutants of hepatitis B virus in chronic hepatitis B virus carriers.

T Wakita, S Kakumu, M Shibata, K Yoshioka, Y Ito, T Shinagawa, T Ishikawa, M Takayanagi, and T Morishima

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Wakita, T. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Kakumu, S. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Shibata, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Yoshioka, K. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Ito, Y. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Shinagawa, T. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Ishikawa, T. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Takayanagi, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

Find articles by Morishima, T. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

First published December 1, 1991 - More info

Published in Volume 88, Issue 6 (December 1, 1991)
J Clin Invest. 1991;88(6):1793–1801. doi:10.1172/JCI115500.
Copyright © 1991, The American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Published December 1, 1991
Abstract

We analyzed the pre-C and core region of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA by a polymerase chain reaction in 22 chronic carriers. In 9 hepatitis B e antigen-positive asymptomatic carriers, a single DNA band was detected at the expected size, whereas additional shorter DNA bands were observed in 7 out of 11 patients with chronic hepatitis. The smaller-sized DNAs from one chronic hepatitis patient had various lengths of deletions spanning from 105 to 183 bp in the middle of the core gene, and all deletions included common nucleotide sequences. All of the smaller-sized DNAs from the other patients proved to be variant core genes. They were deleted in similar regions by Southern analysis using oligonucleotide probes. A follow-up study revealed that four out of seven chronic hepatitis patients with a short core gene seroconverted to antibody to hepatitis B e antigen, but those with only a "wild type" did not. In another set of sequence studies, clones isolated from two chronic carriers displayed heterogeneity of the pre-C and core gene which was more often present in sera with normal alanine aminotransferase levels than with abnormal levels. These results suggest that mutant HBV alters the host immune response, and may modulate the clinical course of HBV infection. An alternative possibility is that chronic hepatitis selects for mutant forms.

Images
Browse pages

Click on an image below to see the page. View PDF of the complete article

Version history
  • Version 1 (December 1, 1991): No description
Advertisement
Advertisement