Objective: Lamivudine resistant HBV strains in Shenzhen were detected at multiple sites and in large amounts to understand further the distribution of lamivudine resistant mutants.
Methods: 552 Hepatitis B patients's sera were examined using genechip method. Among them, 192 samples of lamivudine resistant mutant were further analyzed.
Results: In those 192 lamivudine resistant samples, 191 were YMDD mutants, 124 mutants of codon 528 and 9 mutants of codon 555. 88% YMDD mutants were multi-mutants of YVDD and codon 528; single mutants of YIDD; multi-mutants of YIDD and codon 528. 91% codon of YMDD mutants were GTG, ATT; the other 9% were ATA, ATC.
Conclusions: These results suggest that mutants of codon 552 (YMDD) are core mutants. Mutants of codon 528 and 555 are incidental mutants, YVDD mutants always emerge with mutants of codon 528, but YIDD mutants appear differently. 9% YMDD mutants's codons are ATA or ATC. This may be the reason for the low positive rate shown by using the conventional PCR methods.