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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
1994-7-1
pubmed:abstractText
We examined nine chronic healthy hepatitis B surface antigen/antibody to hepatitis Be carriers with consistently normal liver chemistries and negative serum hepatitis B virus-DNA. Liver biopsy, performed twice, 10-11 years apart in all patients, showed normal histology and negative hepatitis B core antigen. DNA extracted from the second liver biopsy specimen, from 1 ml of serum from each patient and from an additional serum sample of 6 ml from two patients, was tested for pre-C/C and pre-S regions of hepatitis B virus-DNA by polymerase chain reaction amplification. Viral sequences were found in six of nine liver DNA extracts. In four cases both pre-C/C and pre-S regions were amplified, while the pre-C/C alone and the pre-S alone were detected in one case each. Direct sequencing of the amplified DNAs revealed no significant genomic changes in the pre-S and Core regions, while analysis of the pre-Core demonstrated the presence of a double viral population (wild-type and "e-defective") in four cases, and only "e-defective" hepatitis B virus in one case. No hepatitis B virus genomes were revealed in the serum sample when DNA was extracted from 1 ml of serum, while viral sequences were detected in both extracts of 6 ml of serum, indicating the presence of very low levels of viremia. These data suggest that episomal hepatitis B virus-DNA may persist for years in the liver of chronic healthy carriers in a latent state which may involve both wild-type and HBeAg-defective hepatitis B virus.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jan
pubmed:issn
0168-8278
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
20
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
148-51
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1994
pubmed:articleTitle
Persistence of "wild-type" and "e-minus" hepatitis B virus infection in chronic healthy HBsAg/anti-HBe positive carriers.
pubmed:affiliation
Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Università di Messina, Italy.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article