The Incidence Rate of Hepatitis B Virus Surface Gene Variants in Korean Children with Immunoprophylaxis Failure of Perinatal Infection |
Jong-Hyun Kim, M.D., Dae Kyun Koh, M.D., Jae Kyun Hur, M.D., Jin Han Kang, M.D.,
Omana V. Nainan, Ph.D.1 and Harold S. Margolis, M.D.1 |
Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA1 |
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ABSTRACT |
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Background/Aims Perinatal infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) may occur despite immunoprophylaxis. One of the important mechanisms for perinatal prophylaxis failure, might include HBV surface gene variants. Therefore, we screened Korean children, in whom perinatal prophylaxis failed, for HBV surface gene variants. Methods: Thirty-one children with perinatal HBV prophylaxis failure were selected. To amplify the major hydrophilic region of the HBV surface gene, nested PCR with primers targeted to nucleotides 237 to 706 was performed, and then sequencing was done. Results: All cases were shown to be PCR positive for HBV-DNA and genotype C. Nine out of 31 (29%) with perinatal prophylaxis failure had a nucleotide substitution at the major hydrophilic region of the gene; but only two cases (6.5%) had an amino acid substitution. One case was infected by wild type and variants of I126S, and the other by wild type and S114A+I126S, respectively. Conclusions: In Korea, compared to the previous studies of other nations, gene surface variants such as G145R do not appear to play an important role in perinatal immunoprophylaxis failure. (Korean J Hepatol 2005;11:320-328) |
KeyWords:
Hepatitis B virus, Perinatal infection, Immunoprophylaxis failure, Surface gene variant |
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