Currently, hepatitis B virus (HBV), upon attaching to human hepatocytes, is considered to interact first with heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) via an antigenic loop of HBV envelope S protein. Then, it is promptly transferred to the sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) via the myristoylated N-terminal sequence of pre-S1 region (from Gly-2 to Gly-48, HBV genotype D), and it fi...

BACKGROUND Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) is characterized by HBV DNA persistence even though the pattern of serological markers indicates an otherwise resolved HBV infection. Although OBI is usually clinically silent, immunocompromised patients may experience reactivation of the liver disease. CASE PRESENTATION We report the case of an individual with human immunodeficiency v...

The susceptibilities of drug-resistant hepatitis B virus (HBV) mutants to lamivudine, adefovir, tenofovir, entecavir, and 2,4-diamino-6-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethoxy]-pyrimidine (PMEO-DAPym), a novel acyclic pyrimidine analogue, were assessed in vitro. Most drug-resistant mutants, including multidrug-resistant strains, remained sensitive to tenofovir and PMEO-DAPym. Therefore, the latter molecule...

BACKGROUND Antiviral therapy by nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (NAs) effectively reduces HBV replication in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Because long-term NA treatments will eventually select for drug-resistant mutants, early detection of mutants and frequent monitoring of viral loads is crucial for successful NA therapy. Because no efficient test for one-tube quantification and qualifi...

INTRODUCTION Previous studies have indicated that the patients with psychiatric illness were at higher risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, the efficacy of hepatitis B vaccine in schizophrenia patients remains unclear. METHODOLOGY Between June 2014 and January 2015, 415 schizophrenia patients and 3,038 controls who had been routinely immunized as infants were recruited in the p...

Post-transplant hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence prophylaxis is a sine qua non of liver transplantation for HBV-related liver disease because of high rate and aggressive course of HBV recurrence. Hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) is a polyclonal immune globulin solution obtained from plasma, donated by individuals with high titres of anti-HBs (hepatitis B antibody). Although it was being use...

Hepatitis B vaccination is safe and effective, although breakthrough infection occasionally occurs in those who receive the vaccine and hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg) prophylaxis. Sequence variation in their antigenic regions is one of the most powerful strategies that are used by viruses to escape recognition by B and T cell-mediated immune responses. The aim of this study was to explore th...

We recently developed a mouse model of hepatitis B virus (HBV) persistence, in which a single i.v. hydrodynamic injection of HBV DNA to C57BL/6 mice allows HBV replication and induces a partial immune response, so that about 20-30% of the mice carry HBV for more than 6 months. The model was used to identify the viral antigen crucial for HBV persistence. We knocked out individual HBV genes by in...

One of the major problems in gaining further insight into hepatitis B virus (HBV)/host-cell interactions is to improve the existing cellular models for the study of HBV replication. The first objective of this study was to improve the system based on transduction of HepG2 cells with a recombinant baculovirus to study HBV replication. A new HBV recombinant baculovirus, Bac-HBV-1.1, in which the ...

Background: Genomic studies of hepatitis B virus (HBV) diversity are becoming increasingly significant to understand how HBV mutations interact with a wide spectrum clinical and pathological disorders. Objective: This study focused on identifying genotypes determining the status pre-core (PC) core promoter (CP) mutants. Methods: Nested polymerase chain reaction was used identify viral 100 patie...