The association of HBV core promoter double mutations (A1762T and G1764A) with viral load differs between HBeAg positive and anti-HBe positive individuals: A longitudinal analysis☆

BACKGROUND/AIMS Although there have been a few reports regarding the effect of basal core promoter (BCP) double mutations (A1762T and G1764A) on hepatitis B viral loads, the association remains uncertain. We aim to determine the association after controlling for HBeAg - a strong confounding factor. METHODS We selected randomly 190 individuals from a Chinese cohort of 2258 subjects for cross-sectional analysis and 56 of the 190 for longitudinal analysis of viral loads. RESULTS In multivariable analysis of the cross-sectional data, BCP double mutations are significantly associated with lower viral loads in HBeAg positive subjects but no difference was found in anti-HBe positive subjects. Triple mutations at nucleotide (nt) 1753, 1762 and 1764 and mutations between nt 1809 and 1817, precore stop mutation (nt 1896) and genotype are not associated with viral loads in either HBeAg or anti-HBe positive subjects. Analysis of the longitudinal data yielded similar results to the cross-sectional data. Viral loads differ significantly between individuals infected with wild-type and BCP double mutations prior to HBeAg seroconversion but this difference is lost after seroconversion. CONCLUSIONS BCP double mutations are associated with lower viral loads in HBeAg positive individuals but have no effect on the viral loads of anti-HBe positive individuals.