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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Development of a Hepatitis B Virus Reporter System to Monitor the Early Stages of the Replication Cycle
Published on: February 1, 2017
Class II cytokine receptor gene cluster is a major locus for hepatitis B persistence
Angela J Frodsham1, Lyna Zhang, Uga Dumpis
1The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Persistent hepatitis B virus infection is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma, the most frequent cancer in some developing countries. Up to 95% of those infected at birth and 15% of those infected after the neonatal period fail to clear hepatitis B virus, together resulting in approximately 350 million persistent carriers worldwide. Via a whole genome scan in Gambian families, we have identified a major susceptibility locus as a cluster of class II cytokine receptor genes on chromosome 21q22. Coding changes in two of these genes, the type I IFN receptor gene, IFN-AR2, and the IL-10RB gene that encodes a receptor chain for IL-10-related cytokines including the IFN-lambdas, are associated with viral clearance (haplotype P value = 0.0003), and in vitro assays support functional roles for these variants in receptor signaling.
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