Research article
Virologic and clinical characteristics of HBV genotypes/subgenotypes in 487 Chinese pediatric patients with CHB
-
* Corresponding authors: Shi-Shu Zhu 302zss@sina.com - Hong-Fei Zhang pldc302@126.com
- † Equal contributors
1 Pediatric Liver Disease Therapy and Research Center, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, China
2 Institute of Disease Control and Prevention, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
3 Beijing You'an Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
BMC Infectious Diseases 2011, 11:262 doi:10.1186/1471-2334-11-262
Published: 30 September 2011Abstract
Background
The association of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes/subgenotypes with clinical characteristics is increasingly recognized. However, the virologic and clinical features of HBV genotypes/subgenotypes in pediatric patients remain largely unknown.
Methods
Four hundred and eighty-seven pediatric inpatients with CHB were investigated, including 217 nucleos(t)ide analog-experienced patients. HBV genotypes/subgenotypes and reverse transcriptase (RT) mutations were determined by direct sequencing. The stage of fibrosis and degree of inflammatory activity were evaluated by the Metavir score system.
Results
Among 487 enrolled pediatric patients, HBV genotype C2 and B2 were the most two prevalent (73.7% and 21.1%). Comparing with HBV/B2 infected patients, no significant difference was observed in the incidence rate and mutant patterns of lamivudine- or adefovir-resistant mutations in HBV/C2 infected patients (P > 0.05). Importantly, we found that the degree of hepatic inflammation degree, fibrosis stage and ALT level were significantly higher in HBV/C2-infected HBeAg positive patients than it was in HBV/B2-infected ones.
Conclusions
The pediatric patients with HBV/C2 infection might be more susceptible to develop severe liver pathogenesis.