| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
1 Department of Pathology and Infectious Diseases, Royal Veterinary College, Royal College Street, London NW1 0TU, U.K.
and2 Medical Research Council Laboratories, P.O. Box 273, Fajara, The Gambia
A novel hepatitis B virus (HBV) variant was detected in the sera of two children in The Gambia, West Africa. The children had been immunized with plasma-derived vaccine and had developed antibody titres of 1448 international units x 10-3 (mIU)/ml and 133 mIU/ml respectively against the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Despite the protective levels of antibodies, HBV DNA was subsequently detected in both children. The complete surface (S) protein gene sequence demonstrated that this HBV isolate was closely related to the ayw4 subtype. However, five nucleotide changes were identified and two of these were unique to the Gambian isolate. One of these changes was within the region of the S gene coding for the immunodominant a determinant of the S protein. A unique nucleotide change from adenosine to guanosine at nucleotide 421 was found, resulting in an amino acid substitution at residue 141 from lysine to glutamic acid. Previous studies have shown that amino acids 141 to 146 are critical for binding to the protective anti-HBsAg antibodies. The presence of a variant HBV in these children suggests the emergence of a novel strain of HBV which can evade immune recognition. This has potential implications for HBV diagnosis and prophylaxis.
Received 12 May 1993;
accepted 7 September 1993.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  Y. Tian, Y. Xu, Z. Zhang, Z. Meng, L. Qin, M. Lu, and D. Yang The Amino Acid Residues at Positions 120 to 123 Are Crucial for the Antigenicity of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen J. Clin. Microbiol., September 1, 2007; 45(9): 2971 - 2978. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. D. Kirk, E. Bah, and R. Montesano Molecular epidemiology of human liver cancer: insights into etiology, pathogenesis and prevention from The Gambia, West Africa Carcinogenesis, October 1, 2006; 27(10): 2070 - 2082. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Alexopoulou, G. Baltayiannis, S. Jammeh, J. Waters, S. P. Dourakis, and P. Karayiannis Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Variant with Multiple Mutations in the a Determinant in an Agammaglobulinemic Patient J. Clin. Microbiol., June 1, 2004; 42(6): 2861 - 2865. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Ijaz, R. B. Ferns, and R. S. Tedder A 'first loop' linear epitope accessible on native hepatitis B surface antigen that persists in the face of 'second loop' immune escape J. Gen. Virol., February 1, 2003; 84(2): 269 - 275. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. Garcia-Navarro, B. Blanco-Urgoiti, P. Berraondo, R. Sanchez de la Rosa, A. Vales, S. Hervas-Stubbs, J. J. Lasarte, F. Borras, J. Ruiz, and J. Prieto Protection against Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus (WHV) Infection by Gene Gun Coimmunization with WHV Core and Interleukin-12 J. Virol., October 1, 2001; 75(19): 9068 - 9076. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Lu, G. Hilken, J. Kruppenbacher, T. Kemper, R. Schirmbeck, J. Reimann, and M. Roggendorf Immunization of Woodchucks with Plasmids Expressing Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus (WHV) Core Antigen and Surface Antigen Suppresses WHV Infection J. Virol., January 1, 1999; 73(1): 281 - 289. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Grethe, M. Monazahian, I. Bohme, and R. Thomssen Characterization of Unusual Escape Variants of Hepatitis B Virus Isolated from a Hepatitis B Surface Antigen-Negative Subject J. Virol., September 1, 1998; 72(9): 7692 - 7696. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL | MICROBIOLOGY | J GEN VIROL |
| J MED MICROBIOL | ALL SGM JOURNALS | |
