Abstract
Occult hepatitis B virus infection (HBV) is characterized by HBV DNA positivity but HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) negativity. Occult HBV infection is associated with a risk of HBV transmission through blood transfusion, hemodialysis, and liver transplantation. Furthermore, occult HBV infection contributes to the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We recently reported the characteristic molecular features of mutations in the preS/S regions among Korean individuals with occult infections caused by HBV genotype C2; the variants of preS and S related to severe liver diseases among chronically infected patients were also responsible for the majority of HBV occult infections. We also reported that HBsAg variants from occult-infected Korean individuals exhibit lower HBsAg secretion capacity but not reduced HBV DNA levels. In addition, these variants exhibit increased ROS-inducing capacity compared with the wild-type strain, linking HBV occult infections to liver cell damage. Taken together, our previous reports suggest the transmission potential of distinct HBV occult infection-related variants in South Korea.
Highlights
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a threat to health in many parts of the world, in highly endemic areas, such as the Asia-Pacific region
HBV infection is associated with a large spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from acute or fulminant hepatitis to various forms of chronic infection, including asymptomatic carrier, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [2]
We have identified several HBV variants related to the progression of liver disease, HCC, among Korean patients [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24]
Summary
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a threat to health in many parts of the world, in highly endemic areas, such as the Asia-Pacific region. HBV infection is endemic in South Korea; based on the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey of 2011, the prevalence of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) was 3.4%. HBV vaccination was first introduced to the Korean population in 1983 and dramatically reduced the prevalence of HBsAg-positive chronic carriers from. The extraordinary prevalence of genotype C2, which is more virulent than genotype B [1] in this area [9], contributes to the distribution of characteristic HBV mutation patterns related to the progression of liver disease. We have identified several HBV variants related to the progression of liver disease, HCC, among Korean patients [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24]
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