• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.173-177
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• 2005

YMDD motif mutants of the hepatitis B virus(HBV) emerge in chronic hepatitis B patients after prolonged lamivudine treatment. HBV DNA breakthrough may be accompained by the emergence of YMDD mutants. We compared the performance of the sequencing method with that of RFMP method in chronic hepatitis B patients who had suffered the HBV DNA breakthrough after lamivudine treatment. Both sequencing and RFMP methods were used to detect YMDD variants in 20 chronic hepatitis B patients. YMDD mutants were detected in 17 samples (85.0%) by both methods. Among them, no mutants were detected in two samples(10.0%), while they were detected in the other sample(5.0%) with the RFMP method. The concordance rate between both methods was 95.0%. There was inconsistency in one sample showing mutants detected by the RFMP method, but not by sequencing method. In the sequencing method, the mutants was detected in the major type virus, but not in the minor type virus. However, both sequencing and RFMP methods were highly concordant except in one sample, so it is suggested that both methods are useful to detect YMDD mutants of chronic hepatitis B patients.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2013

Viral hepatitis is the inflammation of liver cells caused by viruses, and still one of the major health-care problems worldwide. A number of viruses to cause hepatitis are type A, B, C, D, E or G. Among these viruses leading to hepatitis, B and C are more troublesome being more prone to chronic illness which can cause the potentially fatal conditions of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and/or liver failure. If immediate treatment is not initiated, liver transplant is the only option left. Over the past few decades there has been remarkable progress in diagnose and monitor all hepatitis virus infections for treatment and prevention. Nonetheless, important challenges remain to develop more effective and safe vaccines for prevention as well as antiviral agents to reduce viremia/viral load by inhibiting viral replication. The development and evaluation of antiviral agents through carefully designed clinical trials over the last 25 years has heralded a new dawn in the treatment of patients chronically infected with the hepatitis B and C viruses, but not so for the D virus. The introduction of Direct Acting Antivirals (DDAs) for the treatment of HBV carriers has permitted the long term use of these compounds for the continuous suppression of viral replication. This review aims to summarize the current status and development approaches of antiviral drugs for the treatment of viral hepatitis and future perspectives.

• The Journal of the Korean life insurance medical association
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.245-255
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• 1986

To investigate the Positive rate of anti HBs and HBs Ag positive rate of the each group of vaccinated hepatitis B type and not-vaccinated, male 4150 female 2475, from May 1, 1984 to November 30, 1985 in the Medical department of Dae han Kyoyuk ins. Co., We examined into the HBsAg and Anti HBs by using the RPHA method and PHA method and the results which were adjusted statistically were as follows. 1. HBs Ag positive rate was 9.0%(228/2531)in 1984 and 7.0%(287/4069) in 1985, the positive rate in 1985 represented 2% lower than in 1984. 2. Anti HBs positive rate was 43.3%(1096/2531) in 1984 and 42.8%(1744/4069) in 1985, there was no significant change for two years. 3. Anti HBs positive rate in the group of the not-vaccinated hepatitis B type was 39.2%(869/2215) in 1984 and 38.8%(1333/3432)in 1985. 4. Anti HBs positive rate in the group of the vaccinated hepatitis B type more than once was 64.7%(419/647)in male and 71.5%(219/306) in female that was 66.9%(638/953) in total. 5. Anti HBs positive rate in the group of the vaccinated hepatitis B type three times was 68.7%(270/393) in male and 80.0%(156/195) in female and 72.4% in total. In this conclusion; The formation of Anti HBs in female showed more or less higher than male. 6. The cases which were detected HBs Ag and anti HBs at the same time were 4 in male and 3 in female and in the group of the vaccinated hepatitis B type, the number of HBs Ag positive cases were 8 in male and 10 in female. (On condition that we didn't distinguish $5{\mu}g/ml$, hepatitis B type vaccine, from $20{\mu}g/ml$ and after vaccinating, the lapsed time was not settled.)

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.212-220
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• 2004

A 36 year-old female patient with acute hepatitis B was treated with modified Chunggangunbi-tang. The patient complained of right arm and numbness, chest pain and discomfort, pain in the right chest, fever, athalpia, indigestion, fatigue, pruritus, jaundice and other minor problems. Two weeks later, symptoms has gone from severe to mild and transaminase level was lower. The medicine was prescribed for four more weeks and symptoms disappeared. The transaminase level fell to within normal range with no side effect. The Chunggangunbi-tang showed desirable effect on indigestion and more rapid recovery of liver function than previous reports on treatment for hepatitis. Finally results from clinicopathological examinations(about AST, ALT, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, etc.) were promising. o we hope that this clinical study is helpful in treating patients with hepatic disease. Result suggests that oriental medical therapy is useful in treating acute hepatitis type B. More study and development of approach and application of this treatment for acute hepatitis type B are necessary.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.90-109
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• 1988

This study was carried out to find the influencing factors on the acceptance of vaccination of viral hepatitis type B. Two groups of students, 362 undergraduates of Korea University were surveyed for research. The compliant group was 156 students who were inoculated with viral hepatitis type B shot more than one time. The non-compliant group was 206 students who were not inoculated. The measures used for this study were Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales and the one developed by the researcher on the basis of literature review about Health Belief Model. The results of this stuby were as follows. The awareness on health of the compliant group was higher than that of the non-compliant group(t=0.39, P<0.05), And perceived barrier of the compliant group was lower than that of the non-compliant group(t=0.35, P<0.05). But the knowledge about the viral hepatitis type B of the compliant group was lower than that of the non-compliant group(t=2.49, P<0.05). There were no differences between two groups in the perceived susceptibility of the hepatitis and the perceived benifit of the hepatitis vaccination. There was no difference between two groups in terms of the Inner Health Locus of Control (HLOC) and Chance HLOC. On the other hand Powerful-Others HLOC of the compliant group was higher than that of the non-compliant group(t=3.67, P<0.05). 'Parent's advice' was found to be the major answer to the motive of being vaccinated in the compliant group. This explains that the most influencial factor in determining one's health behavior is the parent's opinion. Answers to the question of the reason of not being vaccinated were, 'did not want to bother' and 'did not care yet' in order. As a whole, except for the awareness on health and the perceived barrier of the hepatitis vaccination, this study result shows disagreement with the past investigations on the inter-relationship between one's health belief or Health Locus of Control and the health behavior. The author of this study believes this was due to the limitation in the survey group's particular homogenity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3657-3661
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• 2012

HBV infection is contagious and may be transmitted vertically or horizontally by blood products and body secretions. Over 50% of Iranian carriers have contracted the infection prenatally, making this the most likely route of transmission of HBV in Iran. This study assesses the resistance to Lamivudine in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection using a new ZNA probe Real Time PCR method. To evaluate the effectiveness of Lamivudine therapy for chronic hepatitis B infection, a study was conducted on 70 patients (63 men and 7women), who had received the drug first line. All patients were tested for the presence of HBsAg and HBeAg, the serum ALT level and the HBV DNA load before and after treatment. In all samples resistance to Lamivudine was tested with the ZNA Probe. Our results showed that ZNA Probe Real Time PCR method could detect wild type,YMDD, and its mutants, tyrosine-isoleucine-aspartate-aspartate and tyrosine-valine-aspartate-Aspartate. Among an estimated seventy patients with chronic hepatitis B infection, 18 (25.7%) were resistant to lamivudine. Only one patient was negative for presence of HBS-Ag (5.6%) and two patients were negative for HBe-Ag (11.1%). Real-time PCR with Zip nucleic acid probes is a sensitive, specific and rapid detection method for mutations in the YMDD motif, which will be essential for monitoring patients undergoing Lamivudine antiviral therapy.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 1983

It was attempted in the present study to determind the effect of Korean ginseng on acute viral(B type) hepatitis by double blind test clinically and the results were as follows. 1. The double blind test of 4 week period showed no statistical significance of the effect of ginseng on the disease. 2. The double blind test of 2 week period, however, showed a significant effect in such clinical symptoms as appetite, stomach ache, headache, chillness dizziness, nausea and vomitting, stool habit change and jaundice. Improvement of the blood serum level of transaminases, bilirubin. alkaline phosphatase and cholesterol Chillness feeding period was observed.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.62 no.11
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• pp.416-421
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• 2019

Background: The seropositivity rate of hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) antibodies is known to be ≥95% after hepatitis B virus vaccination during infancy. However, a low level or absence of anti-HBs in healthy children is discovered in many cases. Recent studies in adults reported that a reduced anti-HBs production rate is related to obesity. Purpose: To investigate whether body mass index (BMI) affects anti-HBs levels in healthy children following 3 serial dose vaccinations in infancy. Methods: We recruited 1,200 healthy volunteers aged 3, 5, 7, or 10 years from 4-day care centers and 4 elementary schools. All subjects completed a questionnaire including body weight, height, and vaccine type received. Levels of serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HBs in all subjects were analyzed using electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. The standardized scores (z score) for each sex and age were obtained using the lambda-mu-sigma method in the 2017 Korean National Growth Charts for children and adolescents. Results: Our subjects (n=1,200) comprised 750 males (62.5%) and 450 females (37.5%). The overall anti-HBs seropositivity rate was 57.9% (695 of 1,200). We identified significant differences in mean BMI values between seronegative and seropositive groups (17.45 vs. 16.62, respectively; P<0.001). The anti-HBs titer was significantly decreased as the BMI z score increased adjusting for age and sex (B=-15.725; standard error=5.494; P=0.004). The probability of anti-HBs seropositivity based on BMI z score was decreased to an OR of 0.820 after the control for confounding variables (95% confidence interval, 0.728-0.923; P=0.001). Conclusion: There was a significant association between anti-HBs titer and BMI z score after adjustment for age and sex. Our results indicate that BMI is a potential factor affecting anti-HBs titer in healthy children.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

Background: Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) affects about 350 million people worldwide, which have a high risk of development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Treatment of chronic HBV infection relies on IFN-${\alpha}$ or lamivudine. However, interferon-${\alpha}$ is effective in only about 30% of patients. Also, the occurrence of escape mutations limits the usage of lamivudine. Therefore, the development and evaluation of new compounds or approaches are urgent. Methods: We comparatively evaluated DNA and adenoviral vaccines expressing HBV antigens, either alone or in combined regimens, for their ability to elicit Th1-type immune responses in Balb / c mice which are believed to be suited to resolve HBV infection. The vaccines were tested with or without a genetically engineered IL-12 (mIL-12 N220L) which was shown to enhance sustained Th1-type immune responses in HCV E2 DNA vaccine. Results: Considering the Th1-type cytokine secretion and the IgG2a titers, the strongest Th1-type immune response was elicited by the DNA prime-adenovirus boost regimen in the presence of mIL-12 N220L. In addition, the codelivery of mIL-12 N220L modulated differentially the immune responses by different vaccination regimens. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the DNA prime-adenovirus boost regimen in the presence of mIL-12 N220L may be the best candidate for HBV vaccine therapy of the regimens tested in this study and will be worthwhile being evaluated in chronic HBV patients.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.360-365
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• 1998

The genetic of a recently described virus, hepatitis G virus(HGV) was investigated. HGV envelope 1 (E1) nucleotide sequences isolated from six Korean hepatitis b virus-positive patients by using a reverse transcription-poly-merase chain reaction procedure, were analysed and compared to the seven previously reported HGV isolates. Sequence homology among the Korean isolates was 88-97% whereas among the isolates from different geographic areas was 80-92%, indicating geographical divergence of HGV. Nucleotide substitutions spread uniformly throughiut the E1 fragment. Furthermore, compared to the prototype HGV sequence, frameshift mutations were observed in most of the Korean isolating that a different translating initiation site for the polyprotein exists in the Korean type HGV.