Knoell, Antje and Rohrhofer, Anette and Kochanowski, Bernd and Wurm, Eva-Maria and Jilg, Wolfgang (1999) Prevalence of precore mutants in anti-HBe-positive hepatitis B virus carriers in Germany. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY, 59 (1). pp. 14-18. ISSN 0146-6615,
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) precore mutants are associated often with highly productive infection in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers lacking hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) but positive for anti-HBe, rendering serological identification of infectious individuals unreliable. Although considered initially to be limited mostly to the Mediterranean area, more recent studies suggest a significant presence of these mutants in northern European countries. The sequence of the precore region was determined and examined for mutations from HBV isolates of 99 German chronic HBsAg carriers positive for HBV-DNA and either HBeAg (n = 15) or anti-HBe (n = 84). In addition, clinical data of individuals carrying wild-type virus and those with precore mutants were compared. HBV precore mutants were found in more than half (44/84) of all HBeAg-negative, anti-HBe-positive virus carriers. There was no difference between carriers of wild-type and precore mutant HBV in the level of viremia or in the clinical course of chronic infection. In conclusion, HBV precore mutants are common in Germany and can therefore present a diagnostic problem for serological testing. However, precore mutants do not appear to have a detrimental effect on the course of chronic HBV infection. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | LIVER-DISEASE; MUTATIONS; REGION; INFECTION; FULMINANT; GENOME; DNA; HBeAg; HBsAg; precore sequence |
| Subjects: | 600 Technology > 610 Medical sciences Medicine |
| Divisions: | Medicine > Lehrstuhl für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Dec 2022 16:34 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Dec 2022 16:34 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/49041 |
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