Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 May 14;20(18):5427-34.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i18.5427.

Hepatitis B virus genotypes: global distribution and clinical importance

Mustafa Sunbul  1
Affiliations
Review

Hepatitis B virus genotypes: global distribution and clinical importance

Mustafa Sunbul. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

At least 600000 individuals worldwide annually die of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related diseases, such as chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver cirrhosis (LC), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Many viral factors, such as viral load, genotype, and specific viral mutations, are known to affect disease progression. HBV reverse transcriptase does not have a proofreading function, therefore, many HBV genotypes, sub-genotypes, mutants, and recombinants emerge. Differences between genotypes in response to antiviral treatment have been determined. To date, 10 HBV genotypes, scattered across different geographical regions, have been identified. For example, genotype A has a tendency for chronicity, whereas viral mutations are frequently encountered in genotype C. Both chronicity and mutation frequency are common in genotype D. LC and progression to HCC are more commonly encountered with genotypes C and D than the other genotypes. Pathogenic differences between HBV genotypes explain disease intensity, progression to LC, and HCC. In conclusion, genotype determination in CHB infection is important in estimating disease progression and planning optimal antiviral treatment.

Keywords: Anti-viral therapy; Chronic hepatitis B; Genotypes; Hepatitis B virus; Viral mutation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographic distribution of hepatitis B virus genotypes worldwide. Permission for Figure 1 has been granted by the Publisher, from Shi et al[4].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Huang CC, Kuo TM, Yeh CT, Hu CP, Chen YL, Tsai YL, Chen ML, Chou YC, Chang C. One single nucleotide difference alters the differential expression of spliced RNAs between HBV genotypes A and D. Virus Res. 2013;174:18–26. - PubMed
    1. Biswas A, Panigrahi R, Pal M, Chakraborty S, Bhattacharya P, Chakrabarti S, Chakravarty R. Shift in the hepatitis B virus genotype distribution in the last decade among the HBV carriers from eastern India: possible effects on the disease status and HBV epidemiology. J Med Virol. 2013;85:1340–1347. - PubMed
    1. Moura IF, Lopes EP, Alvarado-Mora MV, Pinho JR, Carrilho FJ. Phylogenetic analysis and subgenotypic distribution of the hepatitis B virus in Recife, Brazil. Infect Genet Evol. 2013;14:195–199. - PubMed
    1. Shi W, Zhang Z, Ling C, Zheng W, Zhu C, Carr MJ, Higgins DG. Hepatitis B virus subgenotyping: history, effects of recombination, misclassifications, and corrections. Infect Genet Evol. 2013;16:355–361. - PubMed
    1. Cooksley WG. Do we need to determine viral genotype in treating chronic hepatitis B? J Viral Hepat. 2010;17:601–610. - PubMed