title: Three type 6 hepatitis C virus subgroups among blood donors in the Yangon area of Myanmar are identified as subtypes 6m and 6n, and a novel subtype by sequence analysis of the core region.
abstract: Previously, using phylogenetic analysis of NS5b sequences, we found that three type 6 variant subgroups (M6-1, M6-2 and M6-3) exist in Myanmar. According to the new nomenclature of hepatitis C, M6-1 and M6-2 belong to subtypes 6m and 6n, respectively, but M6-3 is unassigned. In this study, we sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed the core region of these type 6 variant subgroups. Serum samples assigned as 6m or 6n by NS5b sequence were also identified as 6 m or 6n by core region analysis. The M6-3 (sample name MYAN-3E-3) remained unassigned to a subgroup based on its core region analysis. The findings of this study suggest that either the core region or the NS5b region can be analyzed for HCV subtype classification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama 700-8558, Japan. toshinji@md.okayama-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shinji
authors.forename: Aye Aye
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Lwin
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gokan
authors.forename: Mikako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Obika
authors.forename: Hiromasa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ryuko
authors.forename: Myo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khin
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koide
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001782:Blood Donors; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D002052:Myanmar; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA