Evaluation of the frequency of precore/core mutation in patients with chronic hepatitis B, Kerman, Southeast of Iran

Abstract Objective To evaluate the frequency of precore/core mutation in patients with chronic hepatitis B using PCR-restricted fragment length polymorphisms method. Methods Sera were obtained from 69 patients with chronic hepatitis B including 30 women (43.5%) and 39 men (56.5%). All patients were tested for the serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, the presence of hepatitis Be antigen and hepatitis B surface antigen by electrochemiluminescence and hepatitis B virus DNA load. Precore/core mutation was examined for the presence of a characteristic point mutation at nucleotides A1896G in precore and A1762T and G1764A in core region using nested PCR and restricted fragment length polymorphisms methods. Results From total 69 cases with chronic hepatitis B infection, 12 (17.3%) patients had precore mutation and 10 (14.4%) patients had core mutation. From 69 patients, 53 (76.8%) were negative for hepatitis Be antigen and 61 (88.4%) were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen by electrochemiluminescence method. All samples were positive for hepatitis B virus DNA by RT-PCR. Conclusions This study suggests that extra molecular methods should be apply for diagnosis and monitoring of mutation in chronic hepatitis B patients synchronic or serological method.