[A study on HBV DNA pre C region A83 mutation in patients with hepatitis B]

Mismatched polymerase chain reaction (MPCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism assay(RFLP) were performed to detect the HBV DNA pre core A83 mutation in 97 patients with chronic HBV infection in Hunan. HBV DNA pre core A83 mutation were detected in 37 out of 97 patients (37/97,38.1%). It was found that the prevalence of HBV DNA pre core A83 mutation of the patients with severe hepatitis and with CAH(chronic active hepatitis) were significantly higher than those with CPH(chronic persistent hepatitis) and carriers of HBV, and the patients with elevated transaminase (ALT > 70U) or positive HBeAb were significantly higher than those with normal transaminase (ALT < 70U) and with positive HBeAg, respectively. The results suggest that the HBV DNA pre core A83 mutation is associated with active and severe liver tissue in patients with hepatitis B.