Molecular epidemiological study of hepatitis B virus in blood donors from five Chinese blood centers

Yu Liu, Jingxing Wang, Yi Huang, Tonghan Yang, Xiaoming Guo, Julin Li, Guoxin Wen, Zhongqiao Yun, Peibin Zeng, Miao He, Min Xu, Gui Liu, Ling Ke, David Wright, Jing Liu, Kenrad Nelson, Hua Shan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although the genetic variability of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in HBV-infected patients has been extensively studied, reports on genotypes, subtypes and mutations in the S region of HBV strains from Chinese blood donors are limited. In this study, 245 blood samples from HBsAg-positive blood donors were collected from five geographically diverse blood centers in China. The S region of HBV was amplified, and the HBV genotype and subtype were determined. The amino acid sequences of the S region were aligned, and mutations related to the failure of immunization and HBsAg detection were determined. Of the 245 samples, 228 (93 %) were genotyped successfully. We found that genotypes B, C, D and A accounted for 58.8 %, 21.9 %, 6.6 % and 3.95 % of the isolates, respectively. The distribution of HBV antigen subtypes was as follows: adw (67.6 %), adr (23.3 %) and ayw (8.7 %). Mutations were present in 39 (17.1 %) of 228 samples in the major hydrophilic region (MHR) of the S region. This study demonstrated that HBV genotype/subtype B/adw was the most frequent strain circulating in HBV-infected Chinese blood donors, followed by C/adr. The occurrence of MHR mutants in HBV-infected blood donors and the potential failure to detect some of them in collected units poses a threat to transfusion safety.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1699-1707
Number of pages9
JournalArchives of Virology
Volume157
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2012
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Virology

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