Prevalence of hepatitis B virus DNA in anti-HBc-positive/HBsAg-negative sera correlates with HCV but not HIV serostatus.
BACKGROUND
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA often remains detectable in serum despite clinical recovery and loss of HBsAg.


OBJECTIVE
To study whether coinfection with HIV and HCV influence the chance of detecting HBV DNA in sera with markers of past hepatitis B.


RESULTS
The test panel included 160 anti-HBc-positive/HBsAg-negative sera collected in the diagnostic setting. The following parameters were determined in the sera: anti-HIV (32% positive), anti-HCV (34% positive), HCV RNA (18% positive), and anti-HBs (37% positive). A highly sensitive PCR (90%-detection limit 100 copies/ml) amplifying the terminal protein (TP) region of HBV was established and HBV DNA was detected in 12.5% of the samples. In 70% of these samples, the HBV DNA concentration was below 500 copies/ml as measured by real-time PCR in the S gene. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the chance of detecting HBV DNA was increased by a positive HCV serostatus (odds ratio 5.0, 95%-CI 1.6-15.7), whereas HIV coinfection (odds ratio 2.0, 95%-CI 0.7-5.8), anti-HBs (odds ratio 0.9, 95%-CI 0.3-2.6), and HCV RNA status (odds ratio 0.4, 95%-CI 0.1-1.7) had no statistically significant influence. In contrast, the chance of detecting HCV RNA in the subgroup of anti-HCV-positive sera was increased by HIV coinfection (odds ratio 4.5, 95%-CI 1.2-17.4). Sequencing of the TP PCR products revealed neither a specific phylogenetic origin of the circulating HBV DNA nor clustering of uncommon mutations in the TP region.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of HBV DNA in serum of anti-HBc-positive/HBsAg-negative subjects correlates with HCV rather than HIV serostatus.
Drosten
Christian
C
Department of Virology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute of Tropical Medicine, Bernhard-Nocht-Strasse 74, D-20359 Hamburg, Germany.
Nippraschk
Thomas
T
Manegold
Christoph
C
Meisel
Helga
H
Brixner
Veronika
V
Roth
W Kurt
WK
Apedjinou
Anani
A
Günther
Stephan
S
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004279:DNA, Viral; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies