Sophisticated viral quasispecies with a genotype-related pattern of mutations in the hepatitis B X gene of HBeAg-ve chronically infected patients

Haplotipos; Enfermedades infecciosas; Mutación Haplotips; Enfermetats infeccioses; Mutació Haplotypes; Infectious diseases; Mutation Patients with HBeAg-negative chronic infection (CI) have not been extensively studied because of low viremia. The HBx protein, encoded by HBX, has a key role in viral replication. Here, we analyzed the viral quasispecies at the 5′ end of HBX in CI patients and compared it with that of patients in other clinical stages. Fifty-eight HBeAg-negative patients were included: 16 CI, 19 chronic hepatitis B, 16 hepatocellular carcinoma and 6 liver cirrhosis. Quasispecies complexity and conservation were determined in the region between nucleotides 1255 and 1611. Amino acid changes detected were tested in vitro. CI patients showed higher complexity in terms of mutation frequency and nucleotide diversity and higher quasispecies conservation (p