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Updated: Aug 26, 2026

Development of a Hepatitis B Virus Reporter System to Monitor the Early Stages of the Replication Cycle
Published on: February 1, 2017
Wild-type precore and core promoter sequences in patients with acute self-limited or chronic hepatitis B
M Kobayashi1, Y Arase, K Ikeda
1Research Institute for Hepatology, Dept. of Gastroenterology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. vj7m-kbys@asahi-net.or.jp
Background:
Mutations in the precore region and core promoter were compared between patients with acute and chronic hepatitis B.
Methods:
There were 69 patients with acute self-limited hepatitis B and 210 with chronic hepatitis B who had been followed for > 15 years. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) of genotypes A, B and C was detected in 14 (23%), 8 (13%) and 28 (45%) of the patients with acute self-limited hepatitis, respectively, in contrast to 11 (5%), 25 (12%) and 167 (80%) of those with chronic hepatitis.
Results:
At presentation, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) in serum was the more common (82% versus 65%, P < 0.05), and the wild-type sequences of the precore region (100% versus 74%, P < 0.001) and core promoter (88% versus 36%, P < 0.00001) were more frequent in the 50 patients with acute self-limited hepatitis than the 203 patients with chronic hepatitis B who were infected with HBV of genotype A, B or C. Wild-types of both the precore region and core promoter persisted in acute self-limited hepatitis, while they decreased from 28% to 10% in chronic hepatitis over the course of > 15 years.
Conclusion:
HBV with the wild-type sequences of the precore region and core promoter prevails in patients with acute self-limited hepatitis, unlike in patients with chronic hepatitis.
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