Pathogenic and therapeutic differences among hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes have been documented. However, the association of virological characteristics with clinical differences among HBV genotypes remains unclear. We therefore studied the clinical and virological characteristics of Taiwanese volunteer blood donors infected with HBV genotypes B and C. HBV genotypes were determined in 300 c...

A quality assurance program has been established by the European Group for Rapid Viral Diagnosis and the European Expert Group on Viral Hepatitis for monitoring nucleic acid detection methods for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in serum samples. Thirty-nine laboratories participated in this quality program and generated 43 data sets. Of the participating laboratories, all but one used the PCR techn...

UNLABELLED Previous studies have suggested that prior exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may increase the risk of development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of previous or occult HBV infection in a cohort of hepatitis B surface antigen-negative patients with histologically advanced chronic he...

We performed a quantitative study of serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers, including new parameters such as pre-S1 antigen (Ag), pre-S2 Ag, and anti-HBx, in 88 chronic hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers. New IMx assays for HBsAg and immunoglobulin M (IgM) anti-HBc detection were also used. The population studied was composed of 65 chronic hepatitis cases (40 positive for hepatitis B ...

Serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level is a predictor of the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B patients. Nevertheless, the distribution of viral load levels in chronic HBV patients in Brazil has yet to be described. This cross-sectional study included 564 participants selected in nine Brazilian cities located in four of the five regions of the country...

A substantial proportion of patients with lamivudine-resistant hepatitis B virus (HBV) show suboptimal virologic response during rescue combination treatment with lamivudine plus adefovir. In this randomized active-control trial, 90 patients with serum HBV DNA levels of >2,000 IU/ml after at least 24 weeks of treatment with lamivudine-plus-adefovir therapy for lamivudine-resistant HBV were rand...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Occult hepatitis B infected (OBI) patients can not completely eradicate hepatitis B virus-DNA (HBV-DNA) from their liver and peripheral blood. The main aim of this study was to investigate the Interleukin (IL)-10and IL-17A serum levels in patients suffering from OBI. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this observational study, plasma samples of 3700 blood donors were tested for hepat...

BACKGROUND To investigate dynamic fluctuations of serum viral load and peripheral T-lymphocyte subpopulations of chronic hepatitis B patients and their correlation during entecavir therapy. METHODS Fifty-five patients received entecavir 0.5 mg/d therapy. Serum HBV DNA load was measured by Real-Time-PCR, and the levels of peripheral T-lymphocyte subpopulations by flow cytometry biweekly, every...

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to prospectively evaluate the antiviral responses and evolution of resistance mutations during adefovir (ADV) plus lamivudine (LMV) therapy in patients with entecavir (ETV)-resistant hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. METHODS Twenty chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients who had been receiving ETV for more than 6 months and developed virologic breakthrough due to...

BACKGROUND Current guidelines introduce periodic monitoring of serum alanine transaminase (ALT) as the first-line modality in follow-up patients, with a hepatitis B virus (HBV) inactive carrier state. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine the incidence rate and patterns of ALT fluctuations and prognostic values for the development of chronic HBV e antigen (HBeAg)-negative hepatitis B (CHB)...