Comparison and Correlation of Genetic Variability of the HBV Pre-S Region in HIV/HBV Co-Infected Patients: Quasispecies Perspective

Yuan Nie; Xizi Deng; Yun Lan; Linghua Li; Feng Li; Fengyu Hu

doi:10.2147/IDR.S278415

Comparison and Correlation of Genetic Variability of the HBV Pre-S Region in HIV/HBV Co-Infected Patients: Quasispecies Perspective

Infect Drug Resist. 2020 Dec 1:13:4327-4334. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S278415. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Yuan Nie^#¹, Xizi Deng^#¹, Yun Lan¹, Linghua Li¹, Feng Li¹, Fengyu Hu¹

Affiliation

¹ Research Institute, Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection can accelerate HBV-induced liver disease. A previous study showed that variation in the HBV pre-S region and quasispecies heterogeneity (Sn, mean genetic distance, dS, dN, and dS/dN) are both related to HBV-induced terminal liver disease in HBV mono-infection. Currently, data are lacking on quasispecies variation of the HBV pre-S region in HIV/HBV co-infection. Investigating the quasispecies variation of the HBV pre-S region and its related factors in HIV/HBV co-infection will help to better explore the pathogenic mechanism of HIV/HBV co-infection.

Methods: According to the HIV antibody results obtained before treatment, chronic HBV-infected patients were divided into HIV/HBV co-infected and HBV mono-infected groups. The clinical characteristics of all patients were collected, and DNA was extracted from the serum. The HBV pre-S region was amplified by nested PCR and was further TA cloned. BioEdit software 7.0 was used for sequence alignment with reference to the standard sequence of the matched HBV genotype. We used 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) to control for baseline confounding factors between the two groups.

Results: After 1:1 PSM, we identified 100 patients with similar propensities: 50 HIV/HBV co-infected patients and 50 HBV mono-infected patients. HBV quasispecies indices were lower in the HIV/HBV co-infected group than those in the HBV mono-infected group. A significant correlation was observed between all quasispecies indices and soluble cluster of differentiation 163 (sCD163) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) in the HIV/HBV co-infected group; however, this phenomenon was not found in the HBV mono-infected group.

Conclusion: Combined HIV infection reduces quasispecies heterogeneity in the HBV pre-S region, and the quasispecies heterogeneity is related to the sCD163 and IL-18 levels.

Keywords: HBV; HIV; inflammation; pre-S region; quasispecies.

Grants and funding

We would like to thank the Guangzhou Science and Technology Plan Project (No. 202002030028); National Grand Program on Key Infectious Disease Control (2017ZX10202101; 2017ZX10202203-004-002; 2018ZX10301404-003-002); National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81670536; 81770593); and Major Special Project for Innovation of Health Care in Guangzhou (No. 201704020219).