The Status of Core Promoter Mutation in Type B Chronic Liver Diseases

Kim, Young Soo; Cho, Sung Won; Kim, Jin Hong; Shin, Yong Joon; Jeoung, Sung Taik

Abstract

Background/Airns: Core promoter of HBV (hepatitis B virus) controls the transcription of pregenome-core/polymerase mRNA and precore mRNA. It has been frequently reported that double mutations in the core promoter region suppress HBeAg expression, and the mutations are more frequent in anti-HBe positive group than in HBeAg positive group among chronic HBV carriers. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the status of core promoter mutation and clinical progression in type B chronic liver diseases.
METHODS
DNA sequencing of HBV core promoter region was performed to compare the patterns of matations according to disease severity in various type B chronic liver diseases. This study includes 10 cases of asymptomatie HBV carriers, 23 case of type B chronic hepatitis and 15 cases of liver cirrhosis.
RESULTS
Core promoter mutations (at nucleotide 1762 or 1764) were found in 1 out of 5 cases of HBeAg positive asymptomatic HBV carriers, in 3 out of 5 cases of anti-HBe positive asymptomatic HBV carriers, in 21 out of 23 cases of type B chronic hepatitis and in all 15 cases of liver cirrhosis. There was no relationship between the core promoter mutation and disease activity or HBeAg status in chronic hepatitis.
CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that core promoter mutation rnay be developed during liver cell inflammation, and core promoter mutation has little association with the severity of titis and HBeAg status in patients with type B chronic hepatitis.