THE GENETIC DIVERSITY OF GENOTYPE F1b HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) CORE GENE IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE EVOLUTION OF ACUTE HEPATITIS. RESULTS FROM THE ACUTE HEPATITIS B GLOBAL STUDY

GADANO A; VUJACICH C; LIVELLARA B; ESPOSITO I; GIUNTA D; ARRIGO D; FLICHMAN F; FRANCO A; CALZETTA P; TRINKS J; MENDIZABAL M; MARCIANO S

Punta Cana

Congreso; XXV Congreso ALEH 2018; 2018

Asociación Latinoamericana para el Estudio del Hígado

BACKGROUND: Acute hepatitis B in adults spontaneously resolves in most cases, but can induce acute liver failure (ALF) or chronic hepatitis (CH) in some patients. Viral and host genetic variability have been associated with the development of CH and/or ALF in some HBV genotypes.AIM: To analyze the association of viral and host genetic variability with the clinical evolution of acute HBV infection in patients infected with genotype F1b. METHODOLOGY: In the Global Study 200 patients with acute HBV were prospectively included. Patients were followed for 6 months and divided into two groups according the evolution of the acute infection: group 1 including patients who resolved the infection (HBsAg loss at 6 month of follow up) and showed preserved liver function during the evolution; and group 2 including patients with evolution to chronic hepatitis (HBsAg persistence at 6 month of follow up) and patients who presented severe hepatitis or acute liver failure (prothrombin time < 50% with or without hepatic encephalopathy). In the present sub-study only patients infected with HBV genotype F1b were included. The association of viral and host variables (detailed in table) with the evolution of the acute hepatitis was explored with bivariate statistics. RESULTS: 26 patients were included: 10 in group 1 (resolved infection) and 16 in the group 2 (10 evolution to chronic hepatitis; 6 severe hepatitis or acute liver failure). Comparison among groups is shown in the table. As previously reported, rs3077-C and rs2856718-C alleles were recessively associated with persistence of infection and HBV clearance, respectively. The Number of pre-core/core mutations, pre-core/core mutation rate and Shannon entropy were significantly higher in group 2 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that apart from the previously described host genetic diversity, the genetic variability of the HBV core gene is associated with the evolution of acute hepatitis B.