Uncommon mutation pattern of a hepatitis B virus isolate from genotype F infecting a patient with AIDS.
OBJECTIVE
To study the genomic variations of a hepatitis B virus (HBV) isolate in a patient coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) who developed severe hepatitis and died of AIDS.


METHODS
Two blood samples were collected, the first one during the asymptomatic phase of HIV-1 infection, and the other, 3 years later, few months before the death of the patient. Both samples were HBsAg and anti-HBe positive. Pre-S/S and precore-core genome regions were PCR amplified and analyzed.


RESULTS
The HBV isolate belonged to genotype F, cluster IV. A number of unique amino acid substitutions were found in the surface antigen gene and the overlapping polymerase coding region of HBV genomes derived from both samples. However, these substitutions reflected natural variations rather than mutations of clinical significance. The precore stop codon mutation A(1896) was present in both genomes. Furthermore, the HBV genome derived from the second, but not first sample, showed two out-of-frame core interval deletions, one and 103 nucleotides in length, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report of an HBV isolate from genotype F with core internal deletions. Our results suggest an association between specific core mutations and the severe hepatitis developed by the patient.
Gomes
S A
SA
Department of Virology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. selma@ioc.fiocruz.br
de Castro
L
L
Niel
C
C
Santos
E A
EA
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000235:genetics*; D000328:Adult; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction