Molecular epidemiological study of hepatitis B virus in blood donors from five Chinese blood centers

Abstract

Although the genetic variability of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in HBV-infected patients has been extensively studied, reports on genotypes, subtypes and mutations in the S region of HBV strains from Chinese blood donors are limited. In this study, 245 blood samples from HBsAg-positive blood donors were collected from five geographically diverse blood centers in China. The S region of HBV was amplified, and the HBV genotype and subtype were determined. The amino acid sequences of the S region were aligned, and mutations related to the failure of immunization and HBsAg detection were determined. Of the 245 samples, 228 (93 %) were genotyped successfully. We found that genotypes B, C, D and A accounted for 58.8 %, 21.9 %, 6.6 % and 3.95 % of the isolates, respectively. The distribution of HBV antigen subtypes was as follows: adw (67.6 %), adr (23.3 %) and ayw (8.7 %). Mutations were present in 39 (17.1 %) of 228 samples in the major hydrophilic region (MHR) of the S region. This study demonstrated that HBV genotype/subtype B/adw was the most frequent strain circulating in HBV-infected Chinese blood donors, followed by C/adr. The occurrence of MHR mutants in HBV-infected blood donors and the potential failure to detect some of them in collected units poses a threat to transfusion safety.

The characteristics of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)‐negative hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Chinese blood donors: a follow‐up study of donors tested negative for HBsAg and reactive for simultaneous nucleic acid testing of HBV, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus

“…Phylogenetic analysis showed that five of them were infected with Genotype B HBV, one was Genotype C, and one was Genotype D, with Genotype B being more prevalent than Genotype C in OBI blood donors. This was consistent with the distribution of Genotypes B and C in HBV‐infected blood donors in China reported by other studies . However, accurate estimate of the prevalence of HBV genotype in OBI donors in Dehong should be further evaluated with a larger sample size.…”

“…However, the G145R mutation was not observed in this study while mutations of P142L, I110M, T126A, T131N, and T125M were observed, which were in or near the MHR region and may be related to the false‐negative result of HBsAg assay. In this study, approximately 57.1% (4/7) of the samples had mutations, higher than those reported by other studies in China (17%), Japan (40%), Korea (50%), France (28%), and Spain (40%) . Such a difference may be related to the different sample size, different prevalence of HBV, and different types of infection.…”

“…HBV DNA was extracted from 200 μL of plasma using a DNA blood mini kit (QIAamp, QIAGEN) according to the manufacturer's instructions, and 50 µL of eluted DNA was stored at −70°C until use. A 510‐bp fragment of the conserved S region of the HBV genome was amplified by heminested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as reported . To avoid false‐positive results, comprehensive procedures were followed to prevent sample cross‐contamination with two negative controls to every round of PCR to validate the PCR products and test results were accepted as valid only when obtained in duplicate.…”

“…A 510-bp fragment of the conserved S region of the HBV genome was amplified by heminested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as reported. 6 To avoid false-positive results, comprehensive procedures were followed to prevent sample crosscontamination with two negative controls to every round of PCR to validate the PCR products and test results were accepted as valid only when obtained in duplicate. The PCR products were analyzed and sequenced, and then the sequences were aligned and analyzed for mutations and genotypes as reported.…”

“…The PCR products were analyzed and sequenced, and then the sequences were aligned and analyzed for mutations and genotypes as reported. 6…”