[The percentage of hepatitis B virus precore A83 mutant and its dynamicchange in fulminant hepatitis B].
OBJECTIVE
In order to clarify whether hepatitis B virus precore A83 mutant is related to the pathogenesis of fulminant hepatitis B or not.


METHODS
The percentage of hepatitis B virus precore A83 mutant and the quantity of HBV DNA in sera from 9 patients with fulminant hepatitis B were assayed by the method of densitometry after mispairing PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (mpPCR-RFLP) and quantitative PCR, respectively.


RESULTS
The HBV precore A83 mutant was found in sera of 6 out of 9 (66.7%) fulminant hepatitis patients while none of them were infected with the mutant strain alone, and all were mixed with wild strain. The percentage of the mutant over fifty percent is only in 2 cases in whom one was 59.3% (survival) and another 64.8% (died). The percentage below 31.0% was in 4 cases and all of them died. It was observed that appearance or disappearance of the A83 mutant and its dynamic change of percentage were consistent with the fluctuation of HBV DNA level but there was no correlation statistically (r=0.602, 0.583; P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The mutant strain alone has little correlation to the occurrence of fulminant hepatitis. It might be merely a accompaniment to follow the replication of HBV under the highly immune pressure.
Tian
Q
Q
The 260th Hospital, PLA, Shijiazhuang 050041, China.
Guo
S
S
Tan
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000821:virology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation
D004279:DNA, Viral