Open AccessQuantification of Viral RNA in Multiple Pieces of Explant Liver Tissue Shows Distinct Focal Differences in Hepatitis B Infection
Author(s) -
Gustaf E. Rydell,
Kasthuri Prakash,
Sofia Larsson,
Catarina Skoglund,
Johan Ringlander,
Maria Andersson,
Maria Castedal,
Heléne Norder,
Magnus Lindh
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the journal of infectious diseases (online. university of chicago press)/the journal of infectious diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.69
H-Index - 252
eISSN - 1537-6613
pISSN - 0022-1899
DOI - 10.1093/infdis/jiab469
Subject(s) - explant culture , virology , biology , rna , hepatitis a virus , viral hepatitis , virus , in vitro , genetics , gene
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA and RNA were quantified by digital PCR assays in 20–30 tissue pieces from each of 4 liver explants with cirrhosis caused by HBV. The within-patient variability of HBV RNA levels between pieces was up to a 1000-fold. Core RNA and S RNA levels were similar and correlated strongly when replication was high, supporting that transcription was from covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA). By contrast, enhanced expression of S RNA relative to cccDNA and core RNA in patients with medium-high or low replication supports that HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) can be expressed mainly from integrated HBV DNA in such patients.