BACKGROUND Occult infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a type of chronic HBV infection that is characterized by the absence of a detectable hepatitis B surface antigen in the blood and by very low levels of HBV DNA in the blood and liver. The mechanisms leading to occult HBV infection remain poorly understood but include possible genetic mutations and deletions. Recently, it has been shown...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an important pathogen that chronically infects more men than women. To understand the molecular mechanism of this gender disparity, we analyzed HBV replication in transgenic mice that carried the HBV genome with or without the ability to express the HBV X protein (HBx). We found that gender had no effect on HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), DNA, and RNA levels in mice befo...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a hepatotropic virus that can infect extrahepatic tissue. Whether hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) can be infected by HBV and serve as a potential virus reservoir is still unknown. In this study, the susceptibility of CD34+ HSCs to HBV was investigated. MATERIAL AND METHODS Cord blood-derived CD34+ HSCs were exposed to HBV in vitro, and immunocytochemistry, ...

Given the shared risk factors for transmission, coinfection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HIV is common. HIV infection increases the risk of chronic HBV infection and hastens the progression of liver disease in patients with chronic HBV infection. The treatment of chronic HBV infection needs to be carefully coordinated with HIV management in HBV-HIV coinfected patients. The main goals of tre...

BACKGROUND & AIMS AIM2 plays an important role in innate immunity, but its role in regulating the immune response to hepatitis B virus (HBV) is unknown. We hypothesized that AIM2 expression is positively correlated with HBV-mediated inflammation in patients with HBV-associated glomerulonephritis (HBV-GN), potentiating inflammation and leading to renal damage. We therefore analyzed the expressio...

Objective(s) The aim of this study was to characterize the hepatitis B virus surface protein genotypes and sequence variations among hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) positive chronic patients in Hormozgan province, south of Iran. Materials and Methods A total of 8 patients enrolled in this study. The surface gene was amplified and directly sequenced. Genotypes and nucleotide/amino a...

BACKGROUND Sub-Saharan Africa is endemic for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. HBV/HIV co-infection in women of reproductive age is of clinical and public health importance because these women constitute a significant reservoir for horizontal and perinatal HBV transmission. Childhood HBV vaccination from 6 weeks of age protects most children against chro...

BACKGROUND We aimed to investigate the characteristics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C subgroups in Hong Kong and their relationship with HBV genotype C in other parts of Asia. METHODS Full-genome nucleotide sequences of 49 HBV genotype C isolates from Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B were compared with the sequences of 69 HBV genotype C isolates and 12 non-genotype C isolates ...

Retrospective study indicates that hepatitis B virus (HBV)-active nucleoside (nucleotide) analogues (NAs) used for antiretroviral therapy reduce the incidence of acute HBV infections in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Learning from HIV postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), we explored the possibility of using NAs in PEP following HBV exposure, if preexposure prophylaxis is feasi...

Background: Every year, approximately 800,000 people die from liver diseases associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Complications outside the are common, such as fungal lung infections and viral infections. These complications may be poor immune function, thus making clinical treatment difficult increasing risk of death. Therefore, HBV-infection-related worthy attention further rese...