Characterization of Full-Length Genomes of Hepatitis B Virus Quasispecies in Sera of Patients at Different Phases of Infection.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection results in different clinical presentation due to different levels of immune response. Our study aimed to characterize HBV full-length genome quasispecies (QS) in patients with different phases of infection to better understand its pathogenesis. Forty treatment-naive HBV-infected patients were enrolled, including 10 cases of acute hepatitis B (AHB), 9 cases of immunotolerant (IT) HBV carriers, 11 cases of chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and 10 cases of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). The present study was conducted by clone-based sequencing. QS heterogeneity within each open reading frame was calculated. The mutation frequency index (MFI) and amino acid variations within the large HBsAg, HBcAg, and HBxAg regions were analyzed based on the different infection phases. In total, 606 HBV full-length sequences were obtained. HBV QS had higher heterogeneity in ACLF and CHB than that in IT among chronically infected individuals. AHB patients had the lower QS heterogeneity at onset than those with chronic infection. ACLF patients had the highest frequency of mutations in the core promoter and precore region. A triple mutation (A1762T/G1764A/G1896A) was observed more frequently in genotype C than in genotype B. The MFI indicated that specific peptides of the studied regions had more frequent mutations in ACLF. Furthermore, several amino acid variations, known as T- and B-cell epitopes, were potentially associated with the immunoactive phase of infection. More HBV genome mutations and deletions were observed in patients with more severe diseases, particularly in specific regions of the core and preS regions, the clinical significance and mechanism of which need to be further investigated.

Clinical implications of evolutionary patterns of homologous, full-length hepatitis B virus quasispecies in different hosts after perinatal infection.

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 immune tolerance, and eight with chronic hepatitis) were included. Full-length HBV were amplified by PCR from serum samples before antiviral treatment and cloned; an average of 17 clones per sample were sequenced, and the QS complexities, diversities, and evolution patterns were analyzed. Full-length HBV sequence similarities within mother-daughter pairs were 91.3 to 98.3%. The QS complexities of full-length HBV were similar between mothers and daughters (median of 0.9734 compared to 0.9688, P>0.05), as were the diversities (median of 3.396×10(-3) compared to 4.617×10(-3) substitutions/site, P>0.05). However, the distribution patterns of QS complexities and diversities within specific genes were different, and QS genetic distances of the mothers were higher than those of daughters, both more evident in pairs with different antiviral responses and different immune phases or stages. The nucleotide substitution rate of full-length HBV was 14.388×10(-5) substitutions/site/year, whereas the preC/C gene rate was the highest. Mutations and indels were more common in clones from the mothers, which decreased the affinity of epitopes by 6- to 89-fold. The various genes from homologous HBV genomes evolved in different patterns despite numerically comparable full-length QS complexities and diversities. The different patterns may correlate with the immune stages of chronic HBV infection, which warrants further study.

Evolutionary patterns of hepatitis B virus quasispecies under different selective pressures: correlation with antiviral efficacy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the evolution of hepatitis B virus (HBV) quasispecies (QS) within the reverse transcriptase (RT) region during the early stage of entecavir treatment and its impact on virological response, and to compare evolutionary patterns under different selective pressures. METHODS: 31 patients with chronic hepatitis B receiving entecavir (17 responders and 14 partial responders according to the HBV DNA levels at week 48) and 25 patients receiving lamivudine (14 responders and 11 non-responders) as controls were included. An average of 26 clones (2892 total from both groups) spanning the RT region per sample was sequenced. RESULTS: QS complexity and diversity, in addition to alanine aminotransferase and HBV DNA levels, were comparable between responders and partial responders at baseline. However, QS complexity in responders at week 4 was statistically lower than that in partial responders at the nucleotide level (0.6494 vs. 0.7723, p=0.039). Net changes in diversity as well as the viral nucleotide substitution rate of responders were higher than those of partial responders, and both correlated with virological responses at both week 48 and the final visit (mean: 28 months). A preliminary model of QS evolution variables predicted 16 of 17 responders and 13 of 14 partial responders in the entecavir group. Despite significant differences between responders to entecavir and responders to lamivudine at week 4, the characteristics of QS were quite similar between partial responders to entecavir and non-responders to lamivudine. CONCLUSIONS: The evolutionary patterns of HBV RT QS differ between responders and partial responders during the early stage of entecavir treatment. Characteristics of HBV QS evolution during the first 4 weeks contribute to the prediction of long-term virological responses. The similar patterns of HBV RT QS in partial responders and non-responders receiving different nucleoside analogues may imply a novel mechanism of drug resistance, which warrants further investigation.

Characteristics of CpG Islands and their quasispecies of full-length hepatitis B virus genomes from patients at different phases of infection.

BACKGROUND: CpG islands in hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome are potential targets for methylation mediated gene silencing, and may be involved in the pathogenesis of HBV infection. To date, their characteristics in HBV quasispecies (QS) remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of CpG islands in HBV QS. METHODS: Forty patients diagnosed as acute hepatitis B (AHB, n = 10), immune-tolerant HBV carriers (IT, n = 9), chronic hepatitis B (CHB, n = 11), or acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF, n = 10), were enrolled in this case-control study. A total of 599 clones were isolated, and full-length HBV genomes were sequenced. RESULTS: CpG island II (CGII) in AHB group was shorter in length and its QS heterogeneity was lower than that in the chronic infection group. Among the chronic infection subgroups, CGII and CpG island III (CGIII) in IT group were longer and their heterogeneity was lower compared to CHB and ACLF groups. Length of CGII correlated with HBV DNA levels positively while the complexity and diversity of CGII correlated with HBV DNA levels negatively. Moreover, CGII and CGIII were shorter in genotype B than those in genotype C, while QS complexity and diversity of either CGII or CGIII had no significant difference between genotype B and C. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our results suggest that the distribution, length and QS heterogeneity of CpG islands in full-length HBV genome differ across clinical phases of infection, of which the mechanism warrants further study.