Progress in the study for immune escape-related mutation in the S region of hepatitis B virus / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection could lead to different clinical presentations and disease progresses, including acute and chronic hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and occult HBV infection, in which the interaction between virus and host plays an important role. Because HBV reverse transcriptase is lack of correction function, HBV is prone to generate mutations under the pressure of host immune response and antiviral drug treatment. Some mutations in the HBV S gene-encoding region can significantly attenuate antibody immune response against HBV and therefore affect clinical presentations and disease progression. Such mutations are termed immune escape-related mutations. In this paper, we mainly review the structure and functional characteristics of HBV S gene, the causes and forms of the immune escape-related mutation, its influence on clinical presentations and antiviral treatment response, as well as clinical detection methods.