Mixed mutation in precore region of Hepatitis B Virus in HBsAg positive blood donors

The mutations at nucleotide 1896 (G to A) in the precore region of C gene could affect the HBeAg production. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of precore stop codon mutation in HBV infected blood donors.In this cross sectional study, 200 HBsAg-positive blood donor samples were included. HBV serum markers (HBeAg and anti-HBeAb) were determined by ELISA using commercial kits. Serum HBV DNA was extracted from HBV infected blood donors samples and the extracted DNA was amplified by PCR method. Then, the samples which were PCR positive were selected for line probe assay to identify HBV precore mutations. Out of 200 samples, 100 positive for HBsAg, HBeAg and anti-HBc by ELISA method were selected. HBV-DNA was detected in all 100 HBeAg-positive blood donor samples. The prevalence rate of precore mutations among HBeAg-positive blood donors was 17.5%. Also, 42.5% of blood donors had no mutation in the precore region. In Iranian blood donors, there is a spectrum of asymptomatic patients with a mixed population of wild-type virus and precore mutants before HBeAg seroconversion.