Abstract:
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)has been etiologically linked to several liver related
ailments of both chronic and acute nature, including fatal fulminant hepatitis,
cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, which is a highly prevalent human cancer
and is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality internationally. A large
number of genomic discrepancies have been reported in HBV over the past two
decades and these induce a specific change in virus biology. The variants involved
in host immune system evasion radically modify the virus-host interactions when
present and are a serious challenge to healthcare personnel.To investigate this, a
cross sectional study was conducted in HBV infected patients identified randomly
in different tertiary care hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, which will lead to
the characterization of sequence variations in HBV genome after amplification and
cloning.The purpose of this study was to demonstrate full length genome mutations
in chronic HBV infected patients in the Pakistani population and to individually
map the mutations in the viral gene products of the HBV to extensively describe
their molecular characteristics in viral life cycle and course of infection. New
treatment alternatives have to be employed to treat accumulated viral mutations as
seen in the case of Hepatitis B virus mutants in Pakistan. There is a dire need that
pathologists, pharmaceutical and the healthcare industry augment their awareness
of HBV mutants and how these mutants may modify existing diagnostic and
treatment options in the perspective of Pakistan
