Molecular analysis of Hepatitis B virus sub-genotypes and incidence of preS 1 / preS 2 region mutations in HBV-infected Egyptian patients from Mansoura † Running title : Molecular analysis of Hepatitis B virus in Egypt

Mohammed El-Mowafy, Abdelaziz Elgaml , Mohamed El-Mesery and Mohamed Elegezy. 1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt. 2 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt. 3 Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt. * These authors contributed equally in this work. ǂ Correspondence: Corresponding author: Abdelaziz Elgaml Postal address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt Tel.: +201006777315, Fax: +20502200242 E-mail: elgamel3a@mans.edu.eg ; elgamel3a@hotmail.com †This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: [10.1002/jmv.24828]