Author/Authors :
Karami، Chiman نويسنده Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, IR Iran , , H Adli، Ahmad نويسنده Department of Virology, Golestan University of Medical
Sciences, Gorgan, Iran , , Zhand، Sareh نويسنده Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, IR Iran , , Tabarraei، Alijan نويسنده Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases Research Centre, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, IR Iran , , Talei، Mohamad-reza نويسنده , , Saeidi، Mohsen نويسنده , , Moradi، Abdolvahab نويسنده Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases Research Centre, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, IR Iran ,
Abstract :
Co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis
B virus (HBV) is common due to shared routes of transmission, as
reported approximately 10% of 33 million HIV-infected patients worldwide
are chronically infected with HBV. Mutations of HBsAg especially within
the “a” determinant could alter the antigenicity of the protein, causing
failure of HBsAg neutralization and escaping from the host’s immune
system. This results in active viral replication and liver disease. The
aim of the survey was to identify HBV genotype and subtype, and
different mutations in HBV S gene in hepatitis B patients co-infected
with HIV in Iran. PCR performance and HBV-DNA extraction from plasma of
124 samples obtained from treatment naive HIV/HBV co-infected
participants were according to the protocol. Direct sequencing and
alignment of surface gene were carried out using reference sequences
from the Gene Bank database. From 124 HIV/HBV ELISA positive samples, 40
were HBV DNA-positive. The mean age of patients was 33.88 years. 20% of
them were female and 80% were male. All isolates belonged to the sub
genotype D1/ayw2 and genotype D. There were 50 point mutations including
23 (46%) missense and 27 (54%) silent mutations in amino acid level.
Twenty three amino acid mutations occurred in different immune epitopes
such as 11 (47.82%) in B cell, 6 (26.08%) in T helper and 2 (%8.6) in
CTL. The prevalence of mutations in both “a” determinant region and
Major Hydrophilic Region (MHR) was 5 (21.73%). Our findings showed that
P127T and A70P (Outside of MHR) were the most frequently occurring
substitution mutations. P127T, P132T, G130R, and S136Y substitutions
placed in the first loop of the “a” determinant and the other
substitutions of P142T and D144N occurred in the second loop of “a”
determinant. The results of our study showed that most of the mutations
occurred in B cell epitopes. The mutation in a surface gene of HBV may
be selected by immune pressure or anti-retroviral therapy.
