title: Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes and serotypes in patients with chronic HBV infection in Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although hepatitis B virus (HBV) is endemic to Korea, no large-scale survey of HBV genotypes and serotypes based on sequence analysis has been performed.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present study, we genotyped and serotyped HBV strains from 209 patients in two Korean regions, Seoul (107 patients) and Jeju (102 patients), an island off the southeastern Korean coast. Analyses were conducted using the direct sequencing method targeting the partial surface (S) gene (541 bp).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Phylogenetic analysis showed that all HBV strains from the 209 patients belonged to genotype C2 (100%). Of the 209 patients, 193 (92.3%), 12 (5.7%) and 1 (0.5%) were found to have the adr, adw and ayr serotypes, respectively. The other three strains (1.5%) showed unique serotype and were not typeable by sequence analysis. No HBV strains characteristic of Jeju island were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The extraordinary predominance of genotype C2 in chronic Korean patients, which is known to be associated with more severe liver disease than genotype B, suggests that the clinical manifestations of Korean HBV chronic patients are likely to differ from those found in other Asian countries, especially in Japan and Taiwan, where genotypes B and C coexist.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Liver Research Institute and Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young Mee
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Jee
authors.forename: Byung-Cheol
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jung Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Soo Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ho-Suk
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Mun
authors.forename: Hyun-Ju
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eun-Ju
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Jung-Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Yoon-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyo-Suk
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Eung-Soo
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Chang-Yong
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Yoon-Hoh
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kook
authors.forename: Bum-Joon
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012703:Serotyping