MOLECULAR AND COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF THE HEPATITIS B VIRUS GENOME

B型肝炎病毒（HBV）是嗜肝DNA病毒家族的原型， 其中包括嗜肝病毒， 物种HBV感染可导致多态性肝病，包括 急性或暴发性肝炎、慢性肝炎、肝硬化，以及 肝细胞癌 全世界有超过3亿人 慢性感染乙肝病毒， 肝细胞癌是世界上最常见的癌症之一， 癌 在过去的一年里，我们进行了两次调查。 一是 我们继续描述了一种假定的中和逃逸突变体 在接种肝炎疫苗的个体中出现的HBV B。 研究了两种许可疫苗的保护能力 黑猩猩对抗S基因突变的挑战。 两种重组 疫苗提供了对突变体攻击的保护，这表明 适当接种疫苗的人没有感染的风险， S基因突变病毒。 其次，一个双向启动子复合体被确定， 在HBV的X基因内证实，进一步强调了复杂的遗传 这个病毒的组织。

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the prototype of the hepadnavirus family, which includes hepatotropic viruses that infect at least six separate species. Infection with HBV causes polymorphic liver diseases including acute or fulminant hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Over 300 million people throughout the world are chronically infected with HBV and are at high risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma, one of the world's most prevalent forms of cancer. Within the last year we pursued two avenues of investigation. First, we continued our characterization of a putative neutralization escape mutant of HBV that emerged in individuals who were vaccinated against hepatitis B. Two licensed vaccines were investigated for their ability to protect chimpanzees against challenge with the S gene mutant. Both recombinant vaccines provided protection against challenge with the mutant suggesting that properly vaccinated individuals are not at risk of infection by the S gene mutant virus. Second, a bi-directional promoter complex was iden- tified within the X gene of HBV further emphasizing the complex genetic organization of this virus.