title: Prevalence of HBV genotypes in asymptomatic carrier residents and their clinical characteristics during long-term follow-up: the relevance to changes in the HBeAg/anti-HBe system.
abstract: Randomly selected 50 asymptomatic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carrier residents who had been followed annually were enrolled in this study. The subject group comprised 25 males and 25 females with a mean age at the start of follow-up of 44.1+/-10.4 years. The mean follow-up period was 15.5+/-2.7 years. Genotyping revealed 27 (54%) of genotype B and 23 (46%) of genotype C. The prevalence of genotype B was clearly higher in asymptomatic HBV carrier redidents, which was contrary to the previous reports on chronic liver disease. At the start of follow-up, the ratio of carriers positive for anti-HBe was significantly higher in genotype B than genotype C (P<0.001). Furthermore, the ratio of carriers with reduced HBV-DNA levels was significantly higher in genotype B than genotype C (P<0.01), suggesting that most genotype B carriers had already undergone seroconversion from HBeAg to anti-HBe and were clinically stable at the start of follow-up. The subsequent follow-up observations demonstrated that levels of HBV-DNA and ALT were lower in genotype B than genotype C. Seroconversion from HBeAg to anti-HBe was less likely to occur in genotype C carriers, especially on 40-year-old generation, and these subjects were more likely to develop chronic liver disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Iwate Prefectural University, 152-52 Sugo, Takizawa-mura, Iwate-gun, 020-0173, Iwate, Japan
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Tomiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masuda