Frequency and distribution of hepatitis B virus genotypes among eastern Indian voluntary blood donors: Association with precore and basal core promoter mutations.
OBJECTIVE
To screen hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes and associated basal core promoter (BCP; T1762/A1764) and precore (PreC; A1896) mutations among the HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) positive voluntary blood donors in eastern India.


METHODS
HBV genotypes, BCP and PreC mutations of 141 HBsAg positive voluntary blood donors were determined by the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method and a phylogenetic tree was constructed from surface (S) gene region sequences of representative HBsAg positive donors to confirm the results.


RESULTS
HBV/D was the most predominant (79, 56.0%) genotype followed by HBV/C (33, 23.4%) and HBV/A (29, 20.6%). HBV/C infected blood donors are mostly young (18-25 years). The occurrence of BCP mutation was found to be significantly higher in HBV/C (24, 72.7%) than in HBV/A (7, 24.1%, P < 0.001) and HBV/D (17, 21.5%, P < 0.001), whereas PreC mutation was more frequent in HBV/D (28, 35.4%) than in HBV/C (9, 27.3%). However, the simultaneous presence of BCP and PreC mutations was more common in HBV/C (8/33, 24.2%), followed by HBV/D (6/79, 7.6%).


CONCLUSIONS
In addition to HBV/D and HBV/A, a significant proportion of HBV/C (23.4%) was also present among the voluntary blood donors from eastern India, most frequently in the 18-25 year age group. BCP mutation was more common in HBV/C infected donors.
Biswas
Avik
A
ICMR Virus Unit, Kolkata, India.
Chandra
Partha K
PK
Datta
Sibnarayan
S
Panigrahi
Rajesh
R
Banerjee
Arup
A
Chakrabarti
Shekhar
S
Biswas
Kalidas
K
Patra
Dipak
D
Bhattacharya
Prasun
P
Biswas
Kuntal
K
Chakravarty
Runu
R