Aim: To study the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes and their effect on the progression and outcome in patients with chronic liver diseases from New Delhi, India.
Methods: Sera from 100 HBV-related chronic liver disease (CLDB) cases were tested for HBV genotype using Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and Type-specific primers-based PCR (TSP-PCR) targeting to the surface (S) gene encoding hepatitis B surface antigen.
Results: Only genotypes A and D were present and genotype D was dominant. Genotype D was present in all CLDB patient categories. The genotype distribution for the 100 patients with CLDB was as follows: genotype A, 16/100 (16%) (7/40- 17% chronic hepatitis B (CHB); 8/47, 17%, HBV-related cirrhosis (CRB); 1/13, 7.6%, HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCCB); genotype D- 84/100 (84%) (32/40- 80% CHB; 38/47- 81%, CRB; 11/13, 85%, HCCB); genotype A+D, 3/100 (3%) (1/40- 3% CHB; 1/47- 2%, CRB; 1/13, 7.6%, HCCB); C, 0; B, 0; E, 0; F, 0; G 0, H 0; (P<0.01, genotype D vs A).
Conclusion: Only HBV genotypes A and D were present in patients with CLDB from New Delhi, India. Compared with genotype D, genotype A patients had no significant clinical or biochemical differences (P>0.05). Mixed infection with genotype A and D were seen in 3% of the cases. Genotype D was the dominant genotype prevalent in all patient categories.