title: Incidence of HBV variants with a mutation at nt551 among hepatitis B patients in Nanjing and its neighbourhood.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the epidemiology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) strains with a mutation at nt551 in surface gene among hepatitis B patients in Nanjing and its neighbourhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  By using mutation-specific polymerase chain reaction (msPCR) established by our laboratory for amplifying HBV DNAs with a mutation at nt551, 117 serum samples taken from hepatitis B patients were detected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that 112 samples were positive for nt551A, 4 samples were positive for nt551G. One sample was positive for nt551T. No nt551C of HBV DNA was found. The incidence of HBsAg mutants with G, C, T, A at nt551 among 117 samples was 3.42%, 0%, 0.85%, 95.73%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In Nanjing and its neighbourhood, hepatitis B patients are mainly infected with wild genotype HBV. The incidence of mutants with a mutation at nt551 in HBV genome is significantly lower than that in wild genotype HBV DNA (P<0.01). The necessity of adding components of HBsAg mutants to HBV vaccine needs further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Huadong Research Institute for Medical Biotechnics, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China. mchunling@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Chun-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: De-Xing
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Fa-Qing
authors.initials: FQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hui-Ying
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Su-Qin
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei-Guo
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002681:China; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens