title: Detection of serum hepatitis B virus DNA by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (TaqMan PCR) during lamivudine treatment: comparison with three other assays.
abstract: Monitoring of hepatitis B virus (HBV) levels in serum plays an important role in the management of chronic hepatitis B in patients receiving lamivudine. We evaluated the usefulness of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (TaqMan PCR) for the measurement of HBV DNA. The subjects were 22 patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with lamivudine for 4-12 months. HBV DNA was measured by TaqMan PCR. For comparison, HBV DNA was also measured in 88 sera by branched DNA (bDNA) assay, transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) assay, and Amplicor monitor test. Correlation was significant between the results of TaqMan PCR and those of the three other assays (r=0.630, 0.681, and 0.715, respectively; P<0.05). Of the 22 patients, HBV DNA was beneath the detection limit at the start of therapy in 4 (18%) on the bDNA assay, 3 (14%) on the TMA assay, 2 (9%) on the Amplicor test, and 0 (0%) on TaqMan PCR. Of the 19 patients for whom sera were available at 12 weeks of therapy, HBV DNA was not detected in 16 (84%) on the bDNA assay, 12 (63%) on the TMA assay, 6 (32%) on the Amplicor test, and 2 (11%) on TaqMan PCR. Tyrosine-methionine-aspartate-aspartate (YMDD) variants emerged in three patients; TaqMan PCR detected HBV DNA throughout treatment and revealed significantly increased viral loads before biochemical breakthrough. We conclude that monitoring of HBV by TaqMan PCR is useful for evaluating response to lamivudine treatment and for early detection of drug-resistant variants.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Biochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University Medical School, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, 545-8585, Osaka, Japan
authors.forename: Madoka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kohmoto
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Shuzo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Otani
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minamitani
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tamori
authors.forename: Daiki
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Habu
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shiomi
authors.forename: Shuichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seki
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishiguchi