BACKGROUND Haemodialysis patients are at increased risk of exposure to blood borne viruses. To reduce transmission in the UK, all haemodialysis patients are regularly screened, and if susceptible to Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, vaccinated. METHODS This retrospective study was undertaken to determine the HBV immune status in a large dialysis cohort and the prevalence of occult HBV infect...

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study investigated how HBV replication and host immune response are effected by reduced expression of TGF-β1 and HBx. MATERIAL AND METHODS Short interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown technology has been used to examine the role of TGF-β1 in hepatitis B virus replication. The siTGF-β1 has been transfected along with 1.3mer HBV x-null to investigate the knockdown effect of TGF-...

results the frequencies of the aa, at, and tt genotypes were 31%, 51%, and 18% in the chronic hbv patient group, and 40%, 45%, and 15% in the healthy control group, respectively. however, a lack of association of the + 874 polymorphism in the ifn-γ gene of those with chronic hbv infection was found. evaluation of hbv association with this polymorphism was significant under the dominant genetic ...

Human hepatitis B virus (HBV) infects the liver of humans or humanoid primates. In humans, HBV infection often causes an inflammatory liver disease - hepatitis B. The virus is transmitted by perinatal, percutaneous and sexual exposure, as well as by close person-to-person contact. The latter occurs especially among young children, presumably by open cuts or sores. Vertical transmission from mot...

BACKGROUND Virus-specific cellular immune responses play a critical role in virus clearance during acute or chronic HBV infection. Currently, the commercially available HBV vaccine is combined with alum adjuvant, which stimulates mainly Th2 immune responses. Therefore, development of new therapeutic HBV vaccine adjuvants and immune strategies that also promote Th1 and CTL responses is urgently ...

introduction: hepatitis b is a potentially life-threatening infection that causes acute infection and chronic hepatitis with progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (hcc). interleukin-12 (il12) is responsible for activation of th1 immune responses, leading to possible clearance of hbv infection from the host’s body. the host’s immune-genetic background plays an important role in t...

INTRODUCTION Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) is defined by the presence of HBV DNA in patient sera in the absence of HBsAg. Occult HBV has been associated with hepatocellular carcinoma, reactivation during immune suppression, and transmission to others. While the hepatitis B vaccine is very effective at preventing chronic HBV infection, recent studies indicate it is less effective at preventing ...

Viral hepatitis is a major public health problem. While a prophylactic vaccine is now available for hepatitis B virus (HBV), an estimated 240–350 million people worldwide are persistently infected with HBV (1–3). There is not yet an approved vaccine to prevent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and between 130 and 200 million people are believed to be chronically infected worldwide (4–6). Untre...

HBsAg clearance is associated with clinical cure of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Quantification of HBsAg may help to predict HBsAg clearance during the natural course of HBV infection and during antiviral therapy. Most studies investigating quantitative HBsAg were performed in HBV mono-infected patients. However, the immune status is considered to be important for HBsAg decline an...