CHARACTERIZATION OF THE COMPLETE GENOME OF HEPATITIS DELTA VIRUS (HDV) AND HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) OF NORTH AND EAST REGION OF BRAZIL

• Grant number: 12/13285-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: October 01, 2012
• End date: March 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Shirley Cavalcante Vasconcelos
• Grantee: Shirley Cavalcante Vasconcelos
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Amazon region is one of the places with the highest incidence of HBV infection and death in the world, in this region there is also a high prevalence of hepatitis Delta, and the city of São Paulo is one of the most populous city and with most ethnically diverse in the world. Worldwide there are 350 million chronic carriers of HBV and 15-20 million people co-infected with HDV. The evolution of Delta hepatitis is more severe when compared to other types of chronic hepatitis, since HDV increases the risk of the occurrence of fulminant hepatitis, which causes death in 80% of cases. Fulminant hepatitis occurs more frequently in co-infected HDV-3/HBV-F, these genotypes are found in the Amazon region of Brazil. HBV is divided into eight genotypes, in Brazil it is found the genotypes A, D and F. Studies with the HDV also demonstrated the existence of eight genotypes, where each genotype has a degree distribution and pathogenicity characteristic. In Brazil it has been found genotypes 1, 3 and 8. The characterization of the complete genome of HDV and HBV in the Amazon region of Brazil and the complete genome of HBV from São Paulo will enable the epidemiological and molecular analysis of both infections, and to characterize the viral particles in those regions and to search the presence of virus recombinants in the North and Southeast. This project will allow a more precise study of the complete genome of HDV and HBV, and against HBV will allow the study of transmitted resistance mutation, secondary mutation, and modifications in the S gene that can cause vaccine escape of HBV. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CICERO, MAIRA FERREIRA; PENA, NATHALIA MANTOVANI; SANTANA, LUIZ CLAUDIO; ARNOLD, RAFAEL; AZEVEDO, RAFAEL GONCALVES; LEAL, ELCIO DE SOUZA; DIAZ, RICARDO SOBHIE; KOMNINAKIS, SHIRLEY VASCONCELOS. Is Hepatitis Delta infections important in Brazil?. BMC INFECTIOUS DISEASES, v. 16, SEP 29 2016. (12/13285-0)

SANTANA, LUIZ CLAUDIO; MANTOVANI, NATHALIA PENA; FERREIRA, MAIRA CICERO; ARNOLD, RAFAEL; SANZ DURO, RODRIGO LOPES; ABRAO FERREIRA, PAULO ROBERTO; HUNTER, JAMES RICHARD; LEAL, ELCIO; DIAZ, RICARDO SOBHIE; KOMNINAKIS, SHIRLEY VASCONCELOS. Identification of a new hepatitis B virus recombinant D2/D3 in the city of So Paulo, Brazil. ARCHIVES OF VIROLOGY, v. 162, n. 2, p. 457-467, FEB 2017. (12/13285-0)