Introduction: The HBeAgphenotype arises due to some substitutions and more particularly a stop codon
W28* in the
precore sequence which is associated with abrogation of expression in the
HBeAg level .
Result: The stop codon of
W28* was detected in 55% (40/73) of the patients, which was the most frequent change in the
precore sequence, but the difference among the groups was not significant (p = 0.69).