Adaptive Evolution and Distinct Mutation Signatures of Full-Length HBV Quasispecies in HBeAg-Negative Chronic Hepatitis B.

ABSTRACT: The evolutionary profile of hepatitis B virus (HBV) quasispecies may influence the clinical course of chronic hepatitis B (CHB), but few studies have characterized quasispecies according to hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status. In this study, we analyzed 289 full-length HBV clones from 19 treatment-naïve CHB patients with long-term infection (> 10 years), comprising nine HBeAg-positive and ten HBeAg-negative, using molecular cloning and Sanger sequencing. Compared with HBeAg-positive patients, HBeAg-negative patients displayed higher quasispecies diversity (mean intrapatient sequence divergence 1.09% vs. 0.44%) and more complex phylogenetic structures. They also exhibited a greater number of positively selected sites, with 70.8% located within known T- or B-cell epitope regions, predominan

SUBMITTER: Wu C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12660055 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature