Brief Reports
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2005; 11(2): 299-302
Published online Jan 14, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i2.299
Incidence of HBV variants with a mutation at nt551 among hepatitis B patients in Nanjing and its neighbourhood
Chun-Ling Ma, De-Xing Fang, Kun Yao, Fa-Qing Li, Hui-Ying Jin, Su-Qin Li, Wei-Guo Tan
Chun-Ling Ma, De-Xing Fang, Fa-Qing Li, Hui-Ying Jin, Su-Qin Li, Wei-Guo Tan, Huadong Research Institute for Medical Biotechnics, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, China
Kun Yao, Microbiology and Immunology Department, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, No. BJ2000039
Correspondence to: Chun-Ling Ma, Microbiology and Immunology Department, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China. mchunling@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-25-84542419 Fax: +86-25-84541183
Received: March 19, 2004
Revised: March 22, 2004
Accepted: April 21, 2004
Published online: January 14, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the epidemiology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) strains with a mutation at nt551 in surface gene among hepatitis B patients in Nanjing and its neighbourhood.

METHODS: By using mutation-specific polymerase chain reaction (msPCR) established by our laboratory for amplifying HBV DNAs with a mutation at nt551, 117 serum samples taken from hepatitis B patients were detected.

RESULTS: The results showed that 112 samples were positive for nt551A, 4 samples were positive for nt551G. One sample was positive for nt551T. No nt551C of HBV DNA was found. The incidence of HBsAg mutants with G, C, T, A at nt551 among 117 samples was 3.42%, 0%, 0.85%, 95.73%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: In Nanjing and its neighbourhood, hepatitis B patients are mainly infected with wild genotype HBV. The incidence of mutants with a mutation at nt551 in HBV genome is significantly lower than that in wild genotype HBV DNA (P<0.01). The necessity of adding components of HBsAg mutants to HBV vaccine needs further investigation.

Keywords: Hepatitis B, Hepatitis B virus, nt551, Mutation