title: Precore mutant hepatitis B virus infection and liver disease.
abstract: The type of hepatitis B virus ("wild-type" or precore mutant) in anti-e antigen antibody-positive carriers, viral DNA levels in the serum, and core and e antigen expression in the liver were investigated to search for a possible correlation of these factors with the severity of liver damage. Two major groups of patients were found: the patients in group A were predominantly infected with precore mutant virus and had chronic active hepatitis, expressed nuclear/cytoplasmic core and e antigens in liver biopsy specimens, and usually had high levels of viral DNA in their serum; patients in group B were infected with a mixture of wild-type and mutant viruses, had predominantly chronic persistent hepatitis, showed weaker expression of nuclear core antigen with no cytoplasmic core or e antigen, and had low viremia. A few patients were infected with viruses without precore stop-codon mutation. These data indicate a high prevalence of precore mutant viruses in anti-e carriers with chronic liver disease and suggest that monitoring of virus sequence type and DNA level may be of prognostic value for liver disease sequelae.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Gastroenterology, Medical Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: N V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Naoumov
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grötzinger
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miska
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Pape
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Will
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens