Previous studies have proved the presence of several distinct types of mutations in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections, which are related to the progression of liver disease. However, few reports have detailed the mutation frequencies and mutation patterns in the precore/core (preC/C) region, which are based on the clinical status and HBeAg serostatus. Our aim in this study is to investigate the relationships between the preC/C mutations and clinical severity or HBeAg serostatus from patients chronically infected with HBV genotype C. A total of 70 Korean chronic patients, including 35 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), participated in this study. HBV genotyping and precore/core mutations were analyzed by direct sequencing. All patients were confirmed to have genotype C infections. Mutations in the C region were distributed in a non-random manner. In particular, mutations in the MHC class II restricted region were found to be significantly related to HCC. Six (preC-W28*, C-P5H/L/T, C-E83D, C-I97F/L, C-L100I and C-Q182K/*) and seven types (preC-W28*, preC-G29D, C-D32N/H, C-E43K, C-P50A/H/Y, C-A131G/N/P and C-S181H/P) of mutations in the preC/C region were found to be related to HCC and to affect the HBeAg serostatus, respectively. In conclusion, our data indicated that HBV variants in the C region, particularly in the MHC class II restricted region, may contribute to the progress of HCC in chronic patients infected with genotype C. In addition, we found several distinct preC/C mutations in the Korean chronic cohort, which affect the clinical status of HCC and HBeAg serostatus of patients infected with genotype C.
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