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Variants of hepatitis B virus surface antigen observed during therapy with nucleic acid polymer REP 2139‐Ca have no influence on treatment outcome and its detection by diagnostic assays
Author(s) -
Mijočević Hrvoje,
Karimzadeh Hadi,
Seebach Judith,
Usman Zainab,
AlMahtab Mamun,
Bazinet Michel,
Vaillant Andrew,
Roggendorf Michael
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of viral hepatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1365-2893
pISSN - 1352-0504
DOI - 10.1111/jvh.13044
Subject(s) - hbsag , hbeag , virology , seroconversion , hepatitis b virus , open reading frame , nucleic acid , hepatitis b , biology , virus , medicine , peptide sequence , genetics , gene
Summary The treatment of patients suffering from HB eAg‐positive chronic hepatitis B with REP 2139‐Ca resulted in potent reductions in HB sAg and HBV DNA , seroconversion to anti‐ HB s and the establishment of functional control of infection. In this cohort of 12 patients, we investigated whether differences between HB sAg sequences might explain the lack of response to REP 2139‐Ca observed in 3 of 12 patients. We also assessed if the reduction or complete loss of HB sAg in serum observed during therapy were caused by mutations in the “a” determinant preventing the detection of HB sAg by standard diagnostic assays. The complete pre‐S/S open reading frame ( ORF ) was sequenced and pre‐S1, pre‐S2 and S amino acid sequences were analysed. We found no major differences between pre‐S1, pre‐S2 and S sequences in responders and nonresponders correlated with low reduction in HB sAg. In addition, we found no mutations in the “a” determinant that would significantly affect the reactivity of HB sAg in diagnostic assays. These results demonstrate that the amino acid sequence of complete pre‐S/S ORF has no direct influence on response to REP 2139‐Ca therapy.