No abstract

Objective: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype distribution is still unclear in China, where a high prevalence of HBV infection exists, although it is well known that HBV can be classified into six genotypes based on intergroup divergence. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiological distribution of HBV genotypes and to clarify further the genotype-related differences in the pathogenicity of HBV. Methods: Seminested PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis were conducted in 97 asymptomatic HBV carriers (ASC) and 46 chronic hepatitis (CH), 37 liver cirrhosis (LC) and 44 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients in Shanghai, China. Results: Two hundred and twenty samples (98.2%) were positive for HBV DNA, and of these, 3 (1.4%), 38 (17.2%) and 179 (81.4%) were classified as genotype A, B and C, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the distribution of genotypes B and C among various categories of liver diseases (p < 0.01). The distribution of genotype C showed an increasing trend from ASC, CH and LC to the HCC group; in contrast, the distribution of genotype B showed a decreasing trend in the same order. HBeAg positivity was higher in genotype C than in genotype B in all the subjects or in the ASC group alone (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively). More severe liver damage and a higher mean age were observed in genotype C than in genotype B (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, respectively). Conclusions: These results indicate the following: (1) genotypes A, B and C of HBV exist in Shanghai, China; (2) genotype C is the major genotype in this area; (3) genotype C is associated with the development of severe liver diseases, and (4) genotype B has a relatively good prognosis.

In this work, aminophenylboronic acid-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized, and applied to selective separation of glycopeptides and glycoproteins.

China has one of the highest rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) endemicity in the world. In a survey of five provinces, the overall HBV infection rate in the general population was found to be 42.6%, with 10.3% testing positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)

A fast and efficient proteolysis approach of microwave-assisted protein digestion was developed by using trypsin-immobilized magnetic silica (MS) microspheres. In the work, immobilization of the enzyme onto MS microspheres was very simple and only through a one-step reaction with 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO) which provides the epoxy group as a reactive spacer. Considering that the magnetic particles are excellent microwave absorbers, we developed a novel microwave-assisted digestion method based on the easily prepared trypsin-immobilized MS microspheres. This novel digestion method combined the advantages of immobilized trypsin and the rapid-fashion of microwave-assisted digestion, which resulted in high digestion efficiency. BSA and myoglobin were used as model proteins to optimize the conditions of this method. Peptide fragments produced in 15 s could be confidently identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis. Equivalent or better digestion efficiency was observed comparing to current in-solution digestion. Besides, because of the unique magnetic responsivity, the immobilized trypsin can be isolated easily with the help of an external magnet and thus used repeatedly. High activity was obtained even after seven runs of the trypsin-immobilized MS microspheres. To further verify its efficiency in proteome analysis, one reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) fraction of rat liver extract was applied. After 15 s incubation, 16 totally unique peptides corresponding to two proteins were identified. Finally, the rat liver sample was used to evaluate its worth for the application. With analysis by liquid chromatography-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS), comparable digestion efficiency was observed with typical in-solution digestion but the incubation time was largely shortened. This new microwave-assisted digestion method will hasten the application of the proteome technique to biomedical and clinical research.