Journal article

Viral adaptation to host immune responses occurs in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)infection, and adaptation is greatest in HBV e Antigen-Negative Disease

CP Desmond, S Gaudieri, IR James, K Pfafferott, A Chopra, GK Lau, J Audsley, C Day, S Chivers, A Gordon, PA Revill, S Bowden, A Ayres, PV Desmond, AJ Thompson, SK Roberts, SA Locarnini, SA Mallal, SR Lewinb

Journal of Virology | AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY | Published : 2012

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific T-cell responses are important in the natural history of HBV infection. The number of known HBV-specific T-cell epitopes is limited, and it is not clear whether viral evolution occurs in chronic HBV infection. We aimed to identify novel HBV T-cell epitopes by examining the relationship between HBV sequence variation and the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type in a large prospective clinic-based cohort of Asian patients with chronic HBV infection recruited in Australia and China (n=119). High-resolution 4-digit HLA class I and II typing and full-length HBV sequencing were undertaken for treatment-naïve individuals (52% with genotype B, 48% with genotype C, 63% ..

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