Structural analysis of spliced variants of hepatitis B virus genomes / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the structure of spliced variants of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genomes and elucidate their potential pathogenicity. Methods Amplified the spliced variants of hepatitis B virus genomes by mean of PCR from the serum of the patients with chronic hepatitis B, sequenced and analysis the characteristics of such genomes. Results 10 different types of the spliced variants of hepatitis B virus genomes were obtained with the molecular weight ranging from 765 bp to 2039 bp. There were 6 splicing donor sites and 6 accepter sites, respectively in HBV genomes. All spliced variants showed one or more deletions in the regions coding for core, preS1, preS2 and surface protein, while retained thepathogenic X gene and cis elements which were essential for viral replication and packaging. Conclusions Spliced variants of hepatitis B virus genomes were commonly detected in the serum from chronic Hepatitis B patients, the characteristic structure of such variants implied that they might closely co-related with the pathogenicity of HBV.