J Korean Med Sci.  2005 Oct;20(5):816-820. 10.3346/jkms.2005.20.5.816.

Hepatitis B Virus Genotype C Prevails Among Chronic Carriers of the Virus in Korea

• Bae SH
• Yoon SK
• Jang JW
• Kim CW
• Nam SW
• Choi JY
• Kim BS
• Park YM
• Suzuki S
• Sugauchi F
• Mizokami M

• KMID: 1781765
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2005.20.5.816

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major causative agents of chronic liver diseases in Korea. HBV has been classified into 8 genotypes by a divergence of >8% in the entire genomic sequence, and have distinct geographic distributions. There are limited data on the relevance between HBV genotypes and clinical outcomes in Korea. To investigate the clinical feature relating to HBV genotype in Korea, a total 120 serum samples with HBsAg (65 from Seoul and 55 from the other city in Korea) were obtained from each 30 chronic HBV carriers with asymptomatic carrier (ASC), chronic hepatitis (CH), liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV genotype was determined by either enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using monoclonal antibodies against genotype-specific epitopes in the preS2-region or the direct sequencing of small S gene. HBV genotypes were determined in 105 (87.5%) of 120 samples. HBV genotype C was identified in all HBV carriers with ASC, CH, LC, and HCC. Genotypes A, B, D, E, F and G were not detected in any of them. Genotype C HBV prevails predominantly among chronic carriers of the virus in Korea, irrespective of their clinical stages of liver disease and geographic origin.

Keyword

Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis, Chronic; Genotype; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

MeSH Terms

Carrier State/*epidemiology/*virology
Comorbidity
Female
Genotype
Hepatitis B virus/*genetics/isolation and purification
Hepatitis B, Chronic/*epidemiology/*virology
Humans
Korea/epidemiology
Liver Diseases/*epidemiology/*virology
Male
Middle Aged
Prevalence
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Risk Assessment/methods
Risk Factors

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