Epidemiological and virological characteristics of 2 subgroups of hepatitis B virus genotype C.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate the characteristics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C subgroups in Hong Kong and their relationship with HBV genotype C in other parts of Asia. METHODS: Full-genome nucleotide sequences of 49 HBV genotype C isolates from Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B were compared with the sequences of 69 HBV genotype C isolates and 12 non-genotype C isolates in the GenBank database. Phylogenetic analysis was performed to define the subgroups of HBV genotype C on the basis of >4% heterogeneity of the entire HBV genome. RESULTS: HBV in 80% of patients in Hong Kong belonged to a subgroup predominantly found in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, and southern China) designated as HBV genotype "Cs," and HBV in the remaining 20% of patients belonged to another subgroup, predominantly found in the Far East (Korea, Japan, and northern China), designated as HBV genotype "Ce." Overall, the mean+/-SD nucleotide sequence difference between HBV genotype Cs and HBV genotype Ce was 4.2%+/-0.3%. When HBV genotype Cs and HBV genotype Ce were compared among patients in Hong Kong, HBV genotype Cs was associated with a higher tendency to develop basal core promoter mutations (80% vs. 50%; P=.14), a higher prevalence of C at nucleotide 1858 (95% vs. 0%; P<.001), and a lower prevalence of precore stop codon mutations (5% vs. 50%; P=.002). CONCLUSIONS: HBV genotype C can be differentiated into 2 subgroups--namely, genotype Ce and genotype Cs--that have different epidemiological distributions and virological characteristics.

Author information

Author/s: Chan, Henry L Y (HL); Tsui, Stephen K W (SK); Tse, Chi-Hang (CH); Ng, Eddie Y T (EY); Au, Thomas C C (TC); Yuen, Lilly (L); Bartholomeusz, Angeline (A); Leung, Kwong-Sak (KS); Lee, Kin-Hong (KH); Locarnini, Stephen (S); Sung, Joseph J Y (JJ);

Affiliation: Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China. hlychan(-atsign-)cuhk.edu.hk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of infectious diseases (J Infect Dis), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2005-Jun; vol 191 (issue 12) : pp 2022-32

Dates: Created 2005/05/17; Completed 2005/07/28; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 15897987, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 2/18/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

Comments and Corrections

CommentIn: J Infect Dis. 2005 Oct 1;192(7):1308-9; author reply 1309. (PMID: 16136480)

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