title: Role of maternal viremia and placental infection in hepatitis B virus intrauterine transmission.
abstract: The mechanism of intrauterine hepatitis B virus infection has not been established. In this study, venous blood, cord blood, and placental tissues from 171 chronic hepatitis B virus infected pregnant women were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis B core antigen, and hepatitis B virus DNA. We found that residence, mode of delivery, age, and number of gestational weeks of pregnant women were not correlated with intrauterine hepatitis B virus infection, while neonates of mothers who were hepatitis B s antigen positive and hepatitis B e antigen positive (P < 0.01) or who had high hepatitis B virus DNA levels (≥10(6) copies/ml) were more likely to get an intrauterine infection (P < 0.01). The hepatitis B virus infection rate in placental cell layers gradiently decreased from the mother's side to the fetus's side of the placenta, but the odds ratio value of correlation between placental hepatitis B virus infection and intrauterine infection gradiently increased. The way of intrauterine hepatitis B virus infection may be through a layer-layer transmission pathway, although the possibility of placental leakage cannot be excluded.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Liver Disease Research, Huai'an Fourth People's Hospital, Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, China. xxchenguo@163.com
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yunfang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xingxiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shouzhong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Aijun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Tianyan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yingren
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology*; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D010920:Placenta / Q000821:virology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000821:virology*; D014766:Viremia; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens