D. Thawaranantha et al., SUBTYPING OF THAI HEPATITIS-B VIRUS-DNA BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION, Journal of the Science Society of Thailand, 20(3), 1994, pp. 115-124
Polymerase chain reaction was modified and applied for subtyping of 20
0 sera of Thai hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers. Four pairs of oligonu
cleotide primers which derived from certain amino acids coded by the S
gene were utilized for subtyping. First 2 pairs which contained the v
ariations at amino acid residues 68 and 122 of the S gene product were
used to subtype for d and y determinants, while the latters which had
the variations at residues 47 and 213 were used for r and w determina
nts. Southern-blot hybridization was used to confirm the amplified pro
ducts as due to HBV-DNA. Furthermore, an immunological subtyping with
monoclonal antibodies (immunodiffusion) was also conducted to verify t
he PCR approach. The study revealed that all these Thai HBV-carriers w
ere ad determinant positive which no ay were found at all, and they co
uld be segregated as adr and adw subtypes as 81.0% and 19.0%, respecti
vely.