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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction-Based Detection and Quantification of Hepatitis B Virus DNA
Published on: December 15, 2023
Genotype analysis of hepatitis delta virus from hepatitis B surface antigen-positive patients using PCR-RFLP in
Hamideh Mirshafiee1, Mahmood Mahmoodian-Shooshtari, Zohreh Sharifi
1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Shaheed Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
Background:
Hepatitis delta virus is a unique human pathogen responsible for some 20 million infections globally. This virus is dependent on hepatitis B virus for transmission and propagation. Currently, at least three genotypes of hepatitis delta virus with different geographic distribution and clinical manifestations are described.
Methods:
In this study, hepatitis delta virus RNA of 35 patients' sera were analyzed by RT- semi-nested polymerase chain reaction. Based on genomic differences of hepatitis delta antigen coding region of hepatitis delta virus RNA among hepatitis delta virus RNA-positive sera, the polymerase chain reaction products were digested with restriction enzymes and studied by restriction fragment length polymorphism.
Results:
Out of 35 samples, 13 (38.46%) were positive for hepatitis delta virus RNA by RT- semi-nested polymerase chain reaction. All polymorphisms were shown to be genotype I. Out of 13 hepatitis delta virus RNA-positive (13/35), eight were HBeAg negative.
Conclusion:
Our data indicated that hepatitis delta virus isolates in Tehran are exclusively genotype I.

