a survey of hbv core/pre-core mutations in iraqi patients with chronic hepatitis

Objectives: the present study was conducted to assess the pattern of hbv core/pre-core mutations and hbv genotype in iraqi patients with chronic hepatitis b virus (hbv) infection. methods: in the current cross-sectional study in an iraqi province, we evaluated 134 patients diagnosed with hbv hepatitis. we used pcr and, subsequently, sanger sequencing to assess hbv core/pre-core mutations. sanger sequencing reads were further used for phylogenetic analysis and multiple sequence alignment. a phylogenetic tree was generated according to the neighbor-joining method. results: the current study revealed that 58 (45%) of the patients were male, and 72 (55%) of them were female. the mean age of the patients was 36 ± 12.7 years, and the mean duration of infection was 5.2 ± 4.8 years. the results revealed 21 nucleic acid alterations in the samples analyzed. the generated phylogenetic tree divided samples into two genotypes. pre-core/core mutations were significantly associated with the treatment received (p = 0.0.001) but not with laboratory parameters. most samples were matched with the genotype d clade, while only four samples were positioned adjacent to the genotype e clade. direct nucleic acid translation disclosed five nucleic acid variants (73t>g, 347t>g, 364a>g, 365t>c, and 366a>g) on the core protein. conclusions: this study has detected 21 nucleotide variants and 5 amino acid alterations within the coding sequences of the c gene. this study revealed that genotype d represents the primary genotype for the identified viral infections. the current study highlights the importance of these mutations evaluation for future, more comprehensive studies.