Hepatitis B virus pre-S region: Clinical implications and applications

Huizhen Sun; Le Chang; Ying Yan; Lunan Wang

doi:10.1002/rmv.2201

Hepatitis B virus pre-S region: Clinical implications and applications

Rev Med Virol. 2020 Dec 12. doi: 10.1002/rmv.2201. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Huizhen Sun^{1

2

3}, Le Chang^{1

2}, Ying Yan^{1

2}, Lunan Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology; Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
² Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, PR China.
³ Graduate School, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, PR China.

PMID: 33314434
DOI: 10.1002/rmv.2201

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major threat to global public health, which can result in many acute and chronic liver diseases. HBV, a member of the family Hepadnaviridae, is a small enveloped DNA virus containing a circular genome of 3.2 kb. Located upstream of the S-open-reading frame of the HBV genome is the pre-S region, which is vital to the viral life cycle. The pre-S region has high variability and many mutations in the pre-S region are associated with several liver diseases, such as fulminant hepatitis (FH), liver cirrhosis (LC), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition, the pre-S region has been applied in the development of several pre-S-based materials and systems to prevent or treat HBV infection. In conclusion, the pre-S region plays an essential role in the occurrence, diagnosis, and treatment of HBV-related liver diseases, which may provide a novel perspective for the study of HBV infection and relevant diseases.

Keywords: hepatitis B virus (HBV); occult HBV infection; pre-S mutants.

Publication types

Review