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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Development of a Hepatitis B Virus Reporter System to Monitor the Early Stages of the Replication Cycle
Published on: February 1, 2017
Polymorphisms of type I interferon receptor 1 promoter and their effects on chronic hepatitis B virus infection
Jie Zhou1, Liwei Lu, Man-Fung Yuen
1Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Background/Aims:
Exposure to HBV leads to a distinct clinical course which is partially pertained to host genetic variability. We aimed to study polymorphisms of type I interferon receptor 1 (IFNAR1) promoter and their potential effects on chronic HBV infection.
Methods:
Polymorphisms of IFNAR1 promoter were identified in 320 chronic hepatitis B patients, 148 spontaneously recovered individuals, 148 healthy Chinese donors and 114 Caucasians. Their functional capability in driving reporter gene expression was analyzed.
Results:
Four polymorphic alleles were identified at loci -568, -408, -77 and -3. Association analysis revealed that carriers of alleles -568G, -408C and their related haplotype I were less susceptible to chronic HBV infection whereas those of alleles -568C, -408T and related haplotype III were significantly associated with higher risk to chronic hepatitis B (P<0.01). In a reporter-driven system, the promoter variants with alleles -408C and -3C could drive higher expression of the reporter gene than those with alleles -408T and -3T (P<0.01). Interestingly, an allele with 9 GT repeats at -77 that was rarely found in Chinese but prevalent in Caucasian exhibited the highest transcriptional ability.
Conclusions:
Our results showed that polymorphisms of IFNAR1 promoter may affect, at least in part, the outcomes of HBV infection.
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