Distribution of hepatitis B virus genotype in 5 cities of Fujian province and the clinical implications of HBV genotype / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype in 5 cities of Fujian province and the clinical implications of distinct genotypes in HBV-related liver diseases.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>HBV genotype was determined by the restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis in patients with chronic HBV infection in 5 cities of Fujian province. The relationship between HBV genotype and its clinical implications was studied by multinomal logistic regression and correspondence analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 431 HBV DNA positive patients detected by PCR, 275 (63.8%) belonged to HBV genotype B, 100 (23.2%) to genotype C, 51 (11.8%) to genotype D and D-mixed genotype. Genotype A, E and F were not found. Multinomal logistic regression showed that genotype B was more prevalent in Quanzhou and Sanming cities than in Fuzhou (P = 0.002, P = 0.006), and genotype B appeared significantly more common in asymptomatic carriers (ASC), chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and severe hepatitis (SH). Genotype C was most prevalent in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) (47.0%) than in those with ASC (14.5%) and SH (14.7%) (P = 0.009, P < 0.001). The positive rate of hepatitis B e antigen was higher in patients with genotype C than in those with genotype B and genotype D (56.0% vs. 52.4%, P = 0.008, and 56.0% vs. 30.8%, P = 0.051, respectively). By correspondence analysis, genotype D and D-mixed genotype seemed to be correlated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>(1) The major popular genotypes of HBV were B, C and D in Fujian. (2) Data of our study suggested that the geographic distribution of genotype B and C might be different in some cities of Fujian. (3) Genotype B might have a tendency to lead to SH in younger patients with chronic hepatitis B and the development of LC might be associated with genotype C among the elder patients. (4) Genotype D appeared to associate with development of HCC, which called for further study to confirm.</p>

Evaluation of different methods in monitoring YMDD motif mutations associated with lamivudine resistance / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To evaluate the three different methods in monitoring the lamivudine-resistant HBV mutants in lamivudine-treated patients with chronic hepatitis B.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The sensitivity and specialty of melting curve assay and polymerase chain reaction microplate nucleotide hybridization-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (PCRmnh-ELISA) were compared with those of mismatch polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (mPCR-RFLP) and sequence analysis, through detection of HBV YMDD mutants in 44 serums from chronic hepatitis B patients receiving lamivudine monotherapy at the time of viral breakthrough.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>mPCR-RFLP assay was more sensitive (10(4) copies/ml) than both PCRmnh-ELISA (10(5) copies/ml) and melting curve assay (10(6) copies/ml). 26 YMDD mutants and 18 wild-types were determined by the means of mPCR-RFLP. Among the 26 mutants, only 16 and 18 mutants were found by melting curve assay and PCRmnh-ELISA, respectively. Whereas, out of the 18 wild-types, 2 and 13 mutants were detected by melting curve assay and PCRmnh-ELISA, respectively. To confirm the different results determined by the three methods in 16 samples, sequence analysis was conducted and showed that the rate of consistency with sequencing was 93.8% by mPCR-RFLP, 43.8% by melting curve, and 18.8% by PCRmnh-ELISA, respectively (chi2=18.7, P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The mPCR-RFLP assay is reliable to monitor HBV YMDD mutations. Melting curve assay and PCRmnh-ELISA should be further improved to increase their sensitivity and specialty.</p>