title: Viral genotypes and response to interferon in patients with acute prolonged hepatitis B virus infection of adulthood in Japan.
abstract: Acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was diagnosed in 57 adults admitted to Toranomon Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. Genotypes of HBV were determined by a serological method and compared to those in 1,077 patients with chronic hepatitis B. The distribution of genotypes were: genotype A (acute, 22.8% vs. chronic, 1.9%; P < 0.00001); B (14.0% vs. 9.4%); C (43.9% vs. 87.7%, P = 0.004); D (1.8% vs. 0.2%); F (1.8% vs. 0.2%); and unable to be typed (15.8% vs. 0.6%, P = 0.001). The infection persisted in seven (12%) of them. They included six (86%) of the seven patients who received prednisolone or glycyrrhizin during an acute phase of illness and one of the 41 (2%) who did not (P = 0.01). Interferon was given to the seven patients with acute prolonged HBV infection, and four of them responded by clearing hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and surface antigen (HBsAg) from serum. Of the four responders, one was infected with HBV genotype B and three with genotype C. HBsAg persisted in the remaining three patients all of whom were infected with HBV genotype A, and HBeAg stayed positive in one of them. These results indicate that HBV genotype A prevails in Japanese patients with acute hepatitis B, and suggest a high efficacy of interferon in the adult patients with acute prolonged HBV infection, except in those infected with HBV genotype A.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Hepatology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. vj7m-kbys@asahi-net.or.jp
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Yasuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arase
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Akihito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsubota
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saitoh
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Fumitaka
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akuta
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Someya
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kimiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Yuzo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyakawa
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumada
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D007372:Interferons