Abstract
The antiviral effect of r-IFNa on HBV replication has been proven “in vivo”. However there is no information about the changes induced by the r-IFNa in the patterns of HBV-DNA, specially in children. The aim of this work was to study the effect of the r-IFNa over the liver HBV-DNA patterns in children with chronic hepatitis B.
30 children with CAH histologically proved were included. All of them had HBeAg and serum HBV-DNA for at least 6 months prior to the beginning of the study. Two liver biopsies were obtained from all the patients, one just before the treatment and the second at the 15th month.
HBV-DNA was tested in serum by dot blot and in liver by southern blot hybridization. In the first liver sample all children had replicative intermediates of the viral DNA and in one of them the HBV-DNA was also integrated in the host genome. In the second liver biopsy, in the children who did not respond to the therapy (HBV-DNA+ in serum) the replicative forms of the HBV-DNA remained in the liver and in 3 children inegrated HBV-DNA was detected simultaneously. Among the 9 patients who lost serum HBV-DNA at the end of the therapy, in 8 of them the viral DNA was undetectable in their liver, in the other child integrated and episomal forms non replicatives of the HBV-DNA were detected. None of the responder children lost the HBsAg in serum. To investigate this fact we looked for the presence of HBV-DNA in peripheral blood cells by dot-blot. None of these children showed viral DNA in these cells.
In conclusion, HBV-DNA can be integrated in the host genome early in the natural history of the HBV- chronic infection. Our results suggest the antiviral effect of the r-IFNa of hepatic level. The persistence of HBsAg in the responder children is not maintained at expenses of HBV-DNA expression in mononuclear blood cells.
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Moraleda, C., Bartolome, J., Ruiz-Moreno, M. et al. CHANGES IN THE LIVER HBV-DNA PATTERN EXPRESSION IN CHILDREN WITH HBV CHRONIC INFECTION. Pediatr Res 26, 282 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198909000-00112
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198909000-00112