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. 2006 Apr 14;12(14):2235-8.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i14.2235.

Prevalence of hepatitis B virus precore stop codon mutations in chronically infected children

Philip Wintermeyer  1 , Patrick Gerner, Stephan Gehring, Afshin Karimi, Stefan Wirth
Affiliations

Prevalence of hepatitis B virus precore stop codon mutations in chronically infected children

Philip Wintermeyer et al. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Aim: To find out whether there is a significant difference in the prevalence of the precore stop codon mutation between HBeAg positive and anti-HBe positive children.

Methods: We investigated a large pediatric population of 155 European children (mean age 10.9 years) with chronic hepatitis B by PCR and direct sequencing. Ninety were HBeAg positive and 65 had seroconversion to anti-HBe. Additionally genotyping was performed.

Results: Seventy-four (48%) of the sequenced HBV strains were attributed to genotype D and 81 (52%) to genotype A. In the group of 90 HBeAg positive patients, 2 (2.2%) 1896-G-to-A transitions leading to precore stop codon mutation were found, and in the group of 65 anti-HBe positive children, 5 (7.7%) were identified harbouring HBeAg-minus mutants. The difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.13).

Conclusions: HBeAg minus variants as predominant viral HB strains play a minor role in the course of chronic hepatitis B in European children.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Precore region of HB virus with G1896A-substitution in 6 patients compared to the wild type-sequence (wt). Samples A and B were HBeAg positive. Samples while C-F were anti-HBe positive. All patients belonged to genotype D showing T at nucleotide position 1858.
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