Development and evaluation of a semi-nested PCR technique for amplification and determination of different surface gene variation patterns in patients with chronic HBV infection: development of an amplification method for HBV S gene.

AIM: Development of an amplification method for further investigation of HBV S gene variation patterns.

BACKGROUND

Pre-S/S variants in patients with chronic HBV infection may contribute to the progression of liver damage and Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODS

This study was performed on ten patients with chronic HBV infection. Viral DNA was extracted from patient's plasma, primer design was performed, and a semi-nested PCR method was set up to amplify the pre-S/S region of HBV genome. Subsequently, sequencing was performed to analyze the variants of this region.

RESULTS

In the current study, the semi-nested PCR method was successfully set up, and types of variation in the studied samples were investigated.

CONCLUSION

Pre-S/S variants should be routinely determined in HBV carriers to help identify individuals who may be at a high risk of less favorable liver disease progression. This study showed that the technique could accurately amplify the pre-S/S region, and the product can be successfully used for variation detection by direct sequencing.