Research

Hepatitis B virus genotypes and evolutionary profiles from blood donors from the northwest region of China

Xing-bin Hu¹ , Qiao-hong Yue² , Xian-qing Zhang¹ , Xue-qing Xu³ , Yin Wen⁴ , Yao-zhen Chen¹ , Xiao-dong Cheng² , Liu Yang² and Shi-jie Mu¹

¹  Department of Blood Transfusion, Xijing Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, 17th Changlexi Road, Xi'an 710032, PR China

²  Department of Clinic Molecular Research Center & Clinic Diagnostic Laboratory, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 17th Changlexi Road, Xi'an 710032, PR China

³  Department of Molecular Genetics, Third Military Medical University, Gaotanyan, Chongqing, 40038, PR China

⁴  Department of Electron Microscope, Centralab, Fourth Military Medical University, 15th Changlexi Road, Xi'an 710032, PR China

author email corresponding author email

Virology Journal 2009, 6:199doi:10.1186/1743-422X-6-199

Published:	17 November 2009

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is prevalent in China and screening of blood donors is mandatory. Up to now, ELISA has been universally used by the China blood bank. However, this strategy has sometimes failed due to the high frequency of nucleoside acid mutations. Understanding HBV evolution and strain diversity could help devise a better screening system for blood donors. However, this kind of information in China, especially in the northwest region, is lacking. In the present study, serological markers and the HBV DNA load of 11 samples from blood donor candidates from northwest China were determined. The HBV strains were most clustered into B and C genotypes and could not be clustered into similar types from reference sequences. Subsequent testing showed liver function impairment and increasing virus load in the positive donors. This HBV evolutionary data for China will allow for better ELISA and NAT screening efficiency in the blood bank of China, especially in the northwest region.