Prevalence of precore mutants in anti‐HBe‐positive hepatitis B virus carriers in Germany
Prevalence of precore mutants in anti‐HBe‐positive hepatitis B virus carriers in Germany
复制标题
德国抗 HBe 阳性乙型肝炎病毒携带者中前核心突变体的患病率
作者：
A. Knöll;A. Rohrhofer;B. Kochanowski;Eva‐Maria Wurm;W. Jilg
B型肝炎病毒（HBV）前C区突变通常与缺乏B e抗原（HBeAg）但抗-HBe阳性的B型肝炎表面抗原（HBsAg）携带者的高产感染相关，使得感染性个体的血清学鉴定不可靠。尽管最初认为这些突变体主要限于地中海地区，但最近的研究表明，这些突变体在北方欧洲国家大量存在。对99例HBV-DNA和HBeAg（n = 15）或抗-HBe（n = 84）阳性的德国慢性HBsAg携带者的HBV分离株的前C区序列进行了测定和突变检查。此外，还比较了携带野生型病毒和携带前C区突变体的个体的临床数据。在所有HBeAg阴性、抗-HBe阳性病毒携带者中，超过一半（44/84）发现了HBV前C区突变。在病毒血症水平或慢性感染的临床病程方面，野生型和前C区突变型HBV携带者之间没有差异。总之，HBV前C区突变体在德国很常见，因此对血清学检测存在诊断问题。然而，前C区突变似乎对慢性HBV感染的过程没有不利影响。J. Med. Virol. 59：14-18，1999.© 1999 Wiley利斯公司
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. J. Med. Virol. 59:14–18, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.