CONTEXT After five decades of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccine discovery, HBV is still a major public health problem. Due to the high genetic diversity of HBV and selective pressure of the host immune system, intra-host evolution of this virus in different clinical manifestations is a hot topic of research. HBV infection causes a range of clinical manifestations from acute to chronic infection, ...

The sequence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) major envelope (Env) protein (ayw subtype) was scanned for the presence of H-2(d,b) motifs. Following binding and immunogenicity testing, two new H-2(d)-restricted epitopes (Env.362 and Env.364) were identified. These epitopes induced CTLs capable of recognizing naturally processed HBV-Env, but were apparently generated with lower efficiency than the ...

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection via perinatal transmission is common in the Asia-Pacific region, but related quasispecies (QS) characteristics are not yet defined. To investigate the homologous, full-length HBV QS after perinatal infection and their clinical implications, five pairs of mother-daughter patients with chronic HBV infection (one patient with liver cirrhosis, one with immu...

The present study sought to evaluate the structure of HBV quasispecies in Lamivudine (LMV)-failed chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and its impact in defining the subsequent virological responses to Tenofovir (TDF)-based rescue-therapy. By analyzing HBV clones encompassing reverse transcriptase (RT) and surface (S) region from LMV-failed and treatment-naïve CHB patients, we identified 5 classi...

To control hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, a universal HBV vaccination program for infants was launched in Taiwan in 1984. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of B-cell and T-cell epitope variations of HBsAg and polymerase in HBV infection in vaccinated children. One hundred sixty-three sera from vaccinated children were enrolled randomly. HBV serum markers, including hepatitis...

background: boophilus tick is responsible for the transmission of some pathogens (types of germs) and the reduction of fertility in cattles. tropomyosin protein plays an important role in regulating actin function, immune and allergic reactions and vaccine production. objectives: accurate identification of antigenic determinants (epitopes) is difficult, time consuming and not economic, thus we ...

Mutations in the core promoter and precore regions of HBV cause down-regulation of HBeAg. These mutations are associated with chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and Hepato Cellular Carcinoma (HCC). This study was carried out to sequence analysis of HBV core gene in HBsAg- positive blood donors in Iran. A total of 50 HBsAg- positive blood donor samples were examined in this study. Serological markers ...

We developed an immunogen to stimulate multivalent immunity against hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antigens (HBcAg). Immune responses specific for both HBsAg and HBcAg play an important role in controlling the infection. HBsAg-specific antibodies mediate elimination of virions at an early stage of infection and prevent the spread of virus. The immunogen was constructed...

The recombinant hepatitis B virus surface (HBsAg) and core (HBcAg) virus like particles (VLPs) have the ability to serve as carriers of foreign B cell and CTL epitopes. Different approaches have been used to couple the target epitopes, like the insertion into the primary sequence of the VLP, covalent and noncovalent linkage. Particularly, the non-covalent linkage was used to develop the vaccine...

Little is known about hepatitis B virus (HBV) diversity changes within a host during the immunotolerant phase of chronic HBV infection. Such knowledge, nevertheless, may help in understanding how host immunity and HBV interact at the early stage of infection. In this study, serial serum samples were collected from a long-term (>17 years) follow-up cohort of seven patients, and multiple copies o...