0000000000451570

AUTHOR

Uwe Hopf

Hepatitis B virus with antigenically altered hepatitis B surface antigen is selected by high-dose hepatitis B immune globulin after liver transplantation

“Escape” variants of hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause infection despite previous immunization. These viruses show alterations of the immunogenic major hydrophilic loop of the HBV small surface protein (s-protein). We studied whether HBV “escape” variants were selected in patients with graft infection after liver transplantation for HBV-related diseases who received passive immunoprophylaxis with high-dose polyclonal hepatitis B hyperimmune globulin (HBIG). For that, pre- and posttransplantation sera of 34 patients were analyzed for the occurence of HBV S-gene variants. In addition, binding of in vitro–translated variant s-proteins to HBIG was studied. Variants with exchanges of amino acid …

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Pre-core mutants of hepatitis B virus in patients receiving immunosuppressive treatment after orthotopic liver transplantation.

Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is a possible treatment for acute or chronic liver failure due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, but reinfection of the graft can be a serious complication. The aim of this study was to monitor HBV markers, to analyse pre-core-/core-mutations as well as to identify the viral population causing reinfection after OLT, and to investigate the emergence or disappearance of these mutants in patients receiving immunosuppressive treatment. Fifty-four pre-and posttransplant serum samples of 17 patients were analysed. All patients underwent OLT for HBV-related liver disease and had HBV-DNA before and after OLT. Total DNA was extracted from all sera and a 240…

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