OBJECTIVE We evaluated the influence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype on the course of disease in patients coinfected with HBV and hepatitis delta virus (HDV). METHODS We evaluated HBV genotypes in 190 patients, 140 of whom had chronic HBV monoinfection and 50 of whom had chronic HBV-HDV coinfection. Real-time polymerase chain reactions for the amplification of HBV DNA and HDV RNA were dev...

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...

In coinfected HBV/HCV patients, HBV replication is usually suppressed by HCV over the time. No study to date has evaluated the HBV viremia in long-term follow-up after HCV treatment in hemodialysis patients with HBV/HCV coinfection. This study aimed to assess the evolution of HBV viremia after HCV treatment in this special population. Ten hemodialysis patients with HBV/HCV coinfection with domi...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes chronic hepatitis in hundreds of millions of people worldwide, which can eventually lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The molecular mechanisms underlying HBV persistence are not well understood. In this study, we found that HBV inhibited the chemotherapy drug etoposide-induced apoptosis of hepatoma cells. Further analysis revealed that HBV mRNAs possess a mi...

The main objectives of this study were to define the occurrence and levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in asymptomatic HBV carriers, cirrhosis patients and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases from The Gambia, and to evaluate the risk for cirrhosis or HCC associated with HBV viremia. We used sensitive real-time quantitative PCR assays to measure HBV DNA in samples from a case-control study c...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis D (or hepatitis delta) virus is a defective virus that relies on hepatitis B virus (HBV) for transmission; infection with hepatitis D can occur only as coinfection with HBV or superinfection of an existing HBV infection. Because of the bond between the two viruses, control measures for HBV may have also affected the spread of hepatitis D, as evidenced by the decline of hepa...

BACKGROUND The epidemiologic trends of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients over the past 20 years are largely unknown. METHODS Prevalence and risk factors for HBV infection overall, at the time of HIV infection, and after HIV infection were examined in an ongoing observational HIV cohort study. Risk factors for HBV infection at the time of...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is hepatotropic and lymphotropic. HBV-infected individuals have an increased risk of developing malignant lymphoma, and the HBV infection rate in lymphoma patients is significantly higher than that in the general population. However, the exact mechanism and correlation between HBV infection and lymphoma onset and progression currently remain unclear. We retrospectively a...

BACKGROUND Although chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been established as a cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the roles of viral load and HBV genotype remain unclear. METHODS From 1988 through 1992, baseline blood samples were collected from 4841 Taiwanese men who were HBV carriers but had not been diagnosed with HCC. We used real-time polymerase chain reaction assays ...