Abstract
Objective: To explore the effect of HBV preC/C and S gene antigen epitope mutations on HBeAg serological status in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Methods: Thirty-five cases with chronic hepatitis B without antiviral therapy were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Nested PCR-TA cloning-sequencing method was used to screen HBV preC/C and S gene mutation sites related to HBeAg serological status. Then, in the longitudinal study (60 cases), the independent correlation between HBV preC/C and S gene antigen epitopes mutations and HBeAg status was explored by using multiple regression models to correct the correlated confounding factors. Results: In this cross-sectional study, 64.4% of preC/C and 68.2% of S mutations had occurred in the epitope region. There were ten mutation sites (PreC/C50, 55, 79, 84, 103, 126, 145, 184 and s110, s213) correlated with HBeAg negative status (P < 0.05). After adjusting for confounding factors such as age, gender, HBV genotype, serum alanine aminotransferase level and precw28 * mutations in the longitudinal studies, the results showed that TC cell epitope (prec47-56, prec117-125, s208-216) and Th cell epitope (prec176-185) were the main independent risk factors affecting the host HBeAg serological status. Conclusion: HBV preC/C region (PreC47-56, PreC117-125 and PreC176-185) and S region (s208-216) epitope mutations are the main independent factors affecting the host HBeAg status, suggesting that these epitope mutations may be involved in the HBeAg seroconversion.