Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major health problem in Egypt. Mutation studies concerning molecular identification of HBV genotypes/sub genotype are still limited. 100 HBV isolates obtained from Egyptian HBV chronic patients were sequenced to identify the full-length sequence of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) gene. Obtained sequences of HBsAg isolates were submitted to Gene Bank database under accession numbers HM014049 and HM014050. Phylogenetic analysis performed between them and other HBV genotypes (A-I) verified that our isolates belong to genotype D and more specifically to sub genotype D1. Their amino acid alignments illustrated several missense mutations at HBsAg gene compared to other previously identified Egyptian isolates. These results are important for the identification of HBsAg antigenicity. In addition, if these recent results are compared with the results of other researchers working all over the world it could help for explaining the increased risk of hepatocarcinoma (HCC) in Egypt.

Key words: Hepatitis B surface antigen, Egyptian HBV genotype, HBV surface antigen mutations, HBV genotype D mutations