title: Mutations in pre-core and basal-core promoter regions of hepatitis B virus in chronic HBV patients from Golestan, Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It has been reported that the mutation of the pre-core (PC) and basal-core promoter (BCP) may play an important role in the development of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study the PC and BCP mutations were investigated in chronic HBV patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, 120 chronic HBV patients from Golestan, Northeast of Iran who were not vaccinated against HBV, were recruited from the year 2008 to 2012. HBV-DNA extraction from plasma and PCR were performed and positive PCR products were subjected to automated sequencing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred out of 120 (83.3%) patients were HBeAg negative. Comparison of our nucleotide sequences with reference sequence showed high rate mutation in BCP and PC region (96.66%). Frame shift mutation was found in 78 (65%) of patients in BCP region, among them 8 (6.6%) patients showed mutation in PC region.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrated high rate of mutations in BCP and PC regions among HBV chronic patients in Northeast of Iran.
authors: Infectious Diseases Research Center, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
authors: Abdolvahab
authors: A
authors: Moradi
authors: Infectious Diseases Research Center, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
authors: Sareh
authors: S
authors: Zhand
authors: Infectious Diseases Research Center, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
authors: Amir
authors: A
authors: Ghaemi
authors: Infectious Diseases Research Center, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
authors: Naeme
authors: N
authors: Javid
authors: Infectious Diseases Research Center, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
authors: Masoud
authors: M
authors: Bazouri
authors: Infectious Diseases Research Center, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
authors: Alijan
authors: A
authors: Tabarraei
keywords: BCP mutation; Hepatitis B; Iran; PC mutation