• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.323-333
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• 2000

Objectives : Chronic HBsAg carriers are the principal source of infection for other susceptible people, and are themselves at high risk of developing serious liver diseases. In Korea, it has been estimated that 65-75% of the HBsAg positives remained as persistent carriers. Additionally, familial clustering of MBV infection has frequently been observed among carriers. Some would become progressive, chronic hepatitis patients, and others would not. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between various factors, such as the duration of infection, type of virus, mutation of precore/core region in HBV, major histocompatibility class-I, and developing chronic liver diseases among familial HBV carriers. Methods : Chronic carrier status was identified by repeated serological tests for HBsAg at intervals of six months or more. A familial chronic carrier was defined when the disease was observed in a family member over two generations. Two families were recruited, among which a total of 20 chronic HBsAg carriers(11 carriers in No.1, and 9 in No.2 family) were identified. Data on the general characteristics and liver disease status were collected. Identification of the HBV-DNA was successful only for 13 subjects among the 20 carriers. Analysis of viral DNA in terms of subtype, pre-core and core region mutations was carried out. The type of major histocompatibility class-1 for the 13 subjects was also analysed. Results & Conclusions : Seven of 10 chronic HBV carriers of the 1st generation and one of 10 of the 2nd generation were clinical patients with chronic hepatitis, the others, three of the 1 st and nine of the 2nd generation, were asymptomatic carriers. This data indicates that the duration of HBV carriage is one of the major factors for disease severity. The subtype of HBsAg analysed using MBV-DNA identified in 13 carriers were adr, and the pattern of precore nonsense mutation in HBV-DNA was identical among family members, which meads that the same virus strains were transmitted between the family members. The association between the precore or core mutations in HBV-DNA and the disease severity was not observed. While it was suggested that a specific type of MHC class-I may be related to disease progression.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권8호
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• pp.3253-3256
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• 2015

Background: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major health problem in the Asia-Pacific region including Thailand. Several factors have been proposed as contributing to hepatocarcinogenesis. This study was aimed to investigate the impact of CYP2C19 genotypic polymorphism in HCC related to chronic HBV infection in Thailand. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed between April 2014 and January 2015. Chronic HBV patients with HCC (n=50) and without HCC (n=50) were included. Clinical information and blood samples of all patients were collected. The CYP2C19 genotype was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method, and was classified as rapid metabolizer (RM), intermediate metabolizer (IM) or poor metabolizer (PM). Results: The CYP2C19 genotype frequencies of RM, IM and PM in HBV patients were found to be 19/50 (38%), 25/50 (50%) and 6/50 (12%), respectively. The CYP2C19 genotype frequencies of RM, IM and PM in HBV with HCC patients were 21/50 (42%), 25/50 (50%) and 4/50 (8%), respectively. The distribution of CYP2C19 genotype was not different between patients with and without HCC. Interestingly, among HBV with HCC patients, the RM genotype of CYP2C19 tended to increase risk of aggressive manifestation (OR=2.89, 95%CI=0.76-11.25, P-value=0.07), compared with non RM genotype carriers. Conclusions: CYP2C19 genotype IM was the most common genotype in Thai patients with chronic HBV infection. In addition, genotype RM could be an associated factor for aggressive presentation in HCC related to chronic HBV infection.

• 대한임상검사과학회지
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.9-15
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• 2013

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has recently shown to be associated with diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between chronic hepatitis B and diabetes mellitus indicators. We evaluated anthropometry, metabolic syndrome risk factors, fasting glucose, HbA1c, and C-peptide among the normal and HBV subjects. The partial correlation and average comparison analysis were used to assess the independent association between chronic hepatitis B and diabetes mellitus indicators. Average comparisons of normal and HBV subjects were significantly different in fasting glucose (p<0.000), HbA1c (p<0.000), C-peptide (p<0.000), alanine transaminase (ALT) (p<0.000) and aspartate transaminase (AST) (p<0.000). We may suggest that HBV infection is related to diabetes mellitus indicators such as fasting glucose, HbA1c and C-peptide.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권10호
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• pp.1722-1728
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• 2008

The natural course of chronic hepatitis B (CH-B) virus infection is reportedly variable, and the long-term outcomes in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative chronic hepatitis B infection are distinct from HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis. However, the molecular virological factors that contribute to the progression of liver disease in the south Indian setting remain largely unclear. We prospectively studied 679 consecutive patients for HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBe, and HBV DNA by qualitative PCR. Randomly selected samples were subjected to bidirectional sequencing to reveal core/precore variants. Of the total 679 chronic HBV cases investigated, 23% (154/679) were replicative HBV carriers. Furthermore, amongst the 560 HBV DNA samples analyzed, 26% (146/560) were viremic. Among the 154 HBeAg positive cases, HBV DNA was positive in 118 cases (77%), significantly (p<0.001) higher than the anti-HBe positive (7%) (28/406) cases. Significant increase in liver disease (p<0.01) with ALT enzyme elevation (p<0.001) was observed in both HBe and anti-HBe viremic cases. Interestingly, low frequencies of mutations were seen in the precore region of the HBV strains studied. HBV precore and core promoter variants were less often detected in subjects with "e" negative chronic HBV infection and, therefore, may not have a prognostic role in determining liver disease sequelae in this part of tropical India.

• 대한한의학회지
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.168-173
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• 2005

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the most common intracellular parasites, of which 350 million people worldwide are chronic carriers. It also related to a high incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma. In general, it has been well known that HBV is a noncytolytic virus, so not the virus itself but any unfavorable response by host immune cells and inflammatory cytokines mainly result in chronic liver injury. From this viewpoint, we hopefully assume that Oriental therapies based on immunologic strategies may be able to provide a therapeutic alternative for caring for these illnesses. We also need to be thoroughly familiar with information about HBV epidemiology and the pathologic process of chronic HBV carriers. In this study, to clarify the important considerations of HBV infection and the high risk of HBV induced life-threatening diseases, we introduced our pilot practices given to the patients and the possibility of Oriental therapies as a novel strategy for chronic HBV carriers.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.311-318
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• 2020

Chronic hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection remains a major health threat, especially in high-prevalence areas. Most infants infected by mother-to-infant HBV transmission become chronic carriers. In Taiwan, many important preventive interventions have been implemented to block the perinatal transmission of HBV in the past 35 years. The first nationwide universal HBV vaccination program was launched in Taiwan in July 1984. The three-dose HBV vaccine completion rate reached 98.1% in 2018. The prevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) decreased from 9.8% in pre-vaccinated period in 1984 to 0.5% in the vaccinated cohort in 2014. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in children aged 6-9 years significantly declined from 0.52 to 0.13 per 100,000 children born before and after 1984, respectively. Furthermore, we have performed a maternal HBV screening program during pregnancy since 1984, with the screening rate peaked at 93% in 2012. The HBsAg- and HBeAg-seropositive rate in pregnant women declined from 13.4% and 6.4% in 1984-1985 to 5.9% and 1.0% in 2016, respectively. To closely control perinatal HBV infection, we have administered hepatitis B immunoglobulin immediately after birth and checked the serum level of HBsAg and anti-HBs in high-risk babies born to HBsAg-seropositive mothers, irrespective of their HBeAg status, since July 2019. We have also adopted short-term antiviral treatments such as tenofovir 300 mg daily in the third trimester for highly viremic mothers and reduced the perinatal infection rates from 10.7 to 1.5%. Through all these efforts, we expect to meet the global goal of eliminating HBV infection by 2030.

• 한국응용약물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국응용약물학회 1996년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.178-178
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• 1996

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the serious problems in Southeast Asia including Korea because it causes chronic hepatitis, which can easily be transformed In fatal conditions such as cirrhosis and hepatoma. Even though lots of informations on structural characteristics and gene expression mechanisms have been accumulated, the mechanism for HBV-induced hepatocellular injury which is believed to be the consequences of the immunological response is not well understood. In order tn perform immunopathological studies for prevention and treatment of HBV infection, we designed transgenic mice as a disease model which can mimic HBV infection, In this study, a promoter-HBV DNA fragment for the preparation of HBV transgenic mice has been constructed. To add a proper enzyme site on 5' end of HBV gene, total HBV (subtype adr) gene was inserted into BamHI site of pBluescript SK vector and reextracted by PstI-SacI treatment A liver-specific promoter, rat ${\alpha}$ 2u globulin gene promoter, was insrted to pBluescript SK vector and reextracted by BamHI-PstI treatment, Promoter-HBV DNA was constructed by ligation of two fragments using identical PstI sites. For large scale production of promoter-HBV DNA, it was inserted to BamHI-SacI site of pBluescript SK vector.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.191-198
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• 2015

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is responsible for approximately 350 million chronic infections worldwide and is a leading cause of broad-spectrum liver diseases such as hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Although it has been well established that adaptive immunity plays a critical role in viral clearance, the pathogenetic mechanisms that cause liver damage during acute and chronic HBV infection remain largely known. This review describes our current knowledge of the immune-mediated pathogenesis of HBV infection and the role of immune cells in the liver injury during hepatitis B.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.430-433
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• 2018

Hepatitis B is a major health problem in China. However, little is known about the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Kaifeng, the major urban capital of Henan province, China. We found that HBV prevalence increased with age and that chronic HBV was predominant in adult males in Kaifeng. The HBV prevalence remained unchanged over a 5-year period for all age groups. Alarmingly, 25% of the population remained unvaccinated and potentially susceptible to future HBV infection. HBV immunization and health education initiatives should be carried out in this population to further reduce the overall prevalence of HBV.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

Background: Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) affects about 350 million people worldwide, which have a high risk of development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Treatment of chronic HBV infection relies on IFN-${\alpha}$ or lamivudine. However, interferon-${\alpha}$ is effective in only about 30% of patients. Also, the occurrence of escape mutations limits the usage of lamivudine. Therefore, the development and evaluation of new compounds or approaches are urgent. Methods: We comparatively evaluated DNA and adenoviral vaccines expressing HBV antigens, either alone or in combined regimens, for their ability to elicit Th1-type immune responses in Balb / c mice which are believed to be suited to resolve HBV infection. The vaccines were tested with or without a genetically engineered IL-12 (mIL-12 N220L) which was shown to enhance sustained Th1-type immune responses in HCV E2 DNA vaccine. Results: Considering the Th1-type cytokine secretion and the IgG2a titers, the strongest Th1-type immune response was elicited by the DNA prime-adenovirus boost regimen in the presence of mIL-12 N220L. In addition, the codelivery of mIL-12 N220L modulated differentially the immune responses by different vaccination regimens. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the DNA prime-adenovirus boost regimen in the presence of mIL-12 N220L may be the best candidate for HBV vaccine therapy of the regimens tested in this study and will be worthwhile being evaluated in chronic HBV patients.