Abstract
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Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious health problem not only in Egypt, but also worldwide. We collected 57 serum samples from treatment-naive chronic HBV-infected Egyptians. The DNA encoding hepatitis surface antigen (HBsAg) and reverse transcriptase (RT) domain was partially sequenced. All viral isolates belonged to genotype D with ayw2 as a predominant serotype (89%). Regarding HBsAg, 45 substitutions were detected in the collected isolates. Eleven substitutions were found in the major hydrophilic region, including two novel ones (M103 T, G130E) that were not correlated before with genotype D. Additionally, 11 occult samples (19%) were detected, in which the predominant mutations of HBsAg was S143 L (7 samples) followed by D144A and T125 M (4 samples each). Concerning the RT domain, 26 isolates (45%) harbored 19 natural mutations that were reported to be associated with antiviral resistance. Eleven different mutations were not correlated previously with genotype D. The most predominant mutation was Y124H (47 samples, 82%). Interestingly, such mutation was detected in 91% of the uploaded sequences of Egyptian HBV isolates to the GenBank (157 sequences). Furthermore, our data revealed the presence of viral quasispecies in HBsAg (10 samples, 17.5%) and RT domain (9 samples, 15.7%). In conclusion, we elucidated natural substitutions in HBsAg and RT domain of HBV isolates obtained from treatment-naive chronic HBV-infected Egyptian patients. Additionally, we detected viral quasispecies and revealed Y124H as a characteristic substitution in the RT domain for Egyptian HBV isolates. Moreover, novel substitutions in HBsAg and RT domain were reported with genotype D. |