title: Classification of hepatitis B virus genotype B into 2 major types based on characterization of a novel subgenotype in Arctic indigenous populations.
abstract: Hepatitis B virus genotype B (HBV/B) has been classified into 5 subgenotypes. Except for Bj/B1 in Japan, the subgenotypes (Ba/B2-B5) have undergone recombination with HBV/C in the core promoter/precore/core genomic region. Phylogenetic analyses of complete sequences show that the Arctic strains belong to a novel subgenotype (HBV/B6) without the recombination, analogous to what is seen with Bj/B1. Comparison of 50 HBV/B6 carriers from the Arctic versus 50 Bj and 50 Ba age- and sex-matched carriers from Asia revealed that clinical characteristics of HBV/B6 carriers were similar to those of Bj/B1 carriers in Japan. The results suggest that HBV/B may be classified into nonrecombinant (Bj/B1 and B6) and recombinant (Ba/B2-B5) types.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Molecular Informative Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Yasuhito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Josephine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simonetti
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Osiowy
authors.forename: Malene L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Borresen
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Fuat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kurbanov
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Gerald Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Minuk
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Joh
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mizokami
mesh_terms: D001110:Arctic Regions / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D044382:Population Groups