| Abstract: | To elucidate the relationship between the clinical severity of chronic liver disease and the precore mutations in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-nega-tive hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers, mutations were investigated in the precore region of HBV DNA in 20 chronic hepatitis B patients who sero-converted either spontaneously or after the administration of α-interferon (IFN), and 5 asymptomatic carriers. The precore mutation with a stop codon at nucleotide 1896 was found in all patients, irrespective of the histology and in all asymptomatic carriers. The second mutation at nucleotide 1899 was found in 40% of cases studied but always followed by the first mutation at nucleotide 1896. The mixed viral infection of precore mutant and wild-type HBV virus was found in 40% of seroconverted cases after IFN treatment and in sera of HBV carriers obtained within a year after the spontaneous Seroconversion. These data suggest that the precore mutants prevail over wild-type HBV in all HBeAg-negative HBV carriers within several years after the sero-conversion, but their prevalence could not confine the clinical severity of chronic liver disease. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc. |
