Hepatitis B virus preS1 deletion is related to viral replication increase and disease progression

Table 6 Comparison of the clinical data between the combined cohort I and II subjects with and without deletion and the prevalence of 3 types of deletion variants, according to their clinical statuses n (%)

	Wild type (n = 241)	Deletion (n = 100)	21 del (n = 13)	18 del (n = 70)	15 del (n = 38)	P value
Age in years, mean ± SD	44.1 ± 15.2	43.1 ± 16.3	51.6 ± 15.7	42.0 ± 15.9	40.3 ± 14.8	0.564
Male	168 (69.7)	68 (68.0)	6 (69.2)	46 (65.7)	24 (63.1)	0.797
HBeAg-positive	127 (52.7)	80 (80.0)	8 (61.5)	58 (82.9)	33 (86.8)	< 0.001
Liver disease (C : CH : LC : HCC)	61 : 58 : 47 : 75	29 : 25 : 12 : 34	4 : 3 : 0 : 8	21 : 17 : 9 : 23	12 : 13 : 5 : 8
ALT [IU/liter (mean ± SD)]	96.8 ± 207.1	81.1 ± 111.2	63.2 ± 43.3	85.5 ± 128.3	89.0 ± 122.4	0.476

One patient from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has mixed mutations of 15, 18 and 21 deletion. Three patients from HCC have mixed mutations of both 15 and 18 deletion. Two patients from liver cirrhosis (LC) have mixed mutations of both 15 and 18 deletion. Two patients from LC have mixed mutations of both 18 and 21 deletion. Six patients from chronic hepatitis (CH) have mixed mutations of both 15 and 18 deletion. Seven patients from C have mixed mutations of both 15 and 18 deletion. Median of hepatitis B virus-DNA was converted into copies/mL according to a conversion constant presented by NIH (1 pg = 280000 copies). C: Carrier; HBeAg: Hepatitis B virus e antigen; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase.