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Hepatitis B virus antibody escape mutant from Singapore
Author(s) -
HARRISON T. J.,
VALLIAMMAI T.,
HOPES E. A.,
OON C. J.,
ZUCKERMAN A. J.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1746.1993.tb01688.x
Subject(s) - virology , hepatitis b virus , antibody , medicine , hepatitis b , antigen , hepatitis b virus dna polymerase , virus , hepatitis b immune globulin , hepadnaviridae , point mutation , mutation , immunology , biology , hbsag , gene , genetics
In order to prevent perinatal infection, the child of a hepatitis B e antigen‐positive mother was given hepatitis B immune globulin and vaccinated against hepatitis B virus (HBV) at birth. Despite circulating antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti‐HBs), the child became infected and is a carrier. Recent serum samples show the co‐existence of hepatitis B surface antigen and anti‐HBs. This study tries to determine whether failure to neutralize this virus by anti‐HBs was associated with a change in the amino acid sequence of the surface protein of HBV. The polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify the region of the hepatitis B surface open reading frame encoding the major antigenic determinants from serum samples taken from the child at 2, 5 and 6 years of age. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the products revealed a point mutation which resulted in a substitution of arginine for glycine at amino acid position (145) in the second loop of the a determinant.