Hepatitis B Immunoprophylactic Failure and Characteristics of the Hepatitis B Virus Gene in Mother-Infant Pairs in Parts of China

Key words: 
• Mother-to-infant transmission /
• Scheduled vaccination /
• Gene characteristics /
• ‘a’ determinant mutation /
• Immune escape

Abstract: Objective To determine the hepatitis B immunoprophylactic failure rate in infants born to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infected mothers and to characterize HBV genes.
Methods HBV-serological testing was conducted for pregnant women and infants. The complete genomes of 30 HBV isolates were sequenced, and genetic characteristics were analyzed using MEGA 5 software.
Results The immunoprophylactic failure rate for infants who had completed the scheduled hepatitis B vaccination program was 5.76%(32/556). High sequence homology (99.8%-100%) was observed in 8 of the 10 mother-infant pairs. We identified 19 subgenotype C2 strains, 9 subgenotype B2 strains, and 2 subgenotype C1 strains. Three serotypes were detected:adr (19/30), adw (9/30), and ayw (2/30). The frequency of amino acid mutation of the‘a’ determinant region was 16.67%(5/30), including that of Q129H, F134Y, S136Y, and G145E. We detected 67 amino acid mutations in the basal core promoter, precore, and core regions of the genome.
Conclusion The immunoprophylactic failure rate in infants born to HBV-infected mothers is low in the regions of China examined during this study. Moreover, HBV mutation in the ‘a’ determinant region could not account for immunoprophylactic failure for all infants.