UNAIR NEWS- Liver cirrhosis and liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma is a life-threatening condition that is often associated with chronic hepatitis B virus infection in Asian countries, including Indonesia. In her research on “Early Detection of Potential Liver Cirrhosis or Liver Cancer Development with Hepatitis B Virus Mutation Analysis in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients”, Rury Mega Wahyuni, drh., M.Si, explained that despite the decrease in the incidence of acute hepatitis B virus infection in Indonesia, however, the number of patients with chronic liver disease associated with chronic hepatitis B virus infection is still increasing.
“Based on data from the Ministry of Health, the number of patients with chronic liver disease reaches 20 million people,” she explained.
Rury revealed that a liver that was initially healthy, infected with the hepatitis B or C virus could become chronic hepatitis and develop into fibroris then cirrhosis. With the risk, she continued, hepatitis infection has 15-25 percent risk of fibrosis, then 30 percent develops to cirrhosis and 30 percent to liver cancer.
According to the Institute of Tropical Disease (ITD) UNAIR, the hepatitis B virus is divided into 10 types or genotypes, hepatitis genotype A, B to hepatitis genotype J virus. Genotype B and genotype C are genotypes that are predominat in Indonesia. The main distribution, she added, Genotype B in western Indonesia and genotype C in eastern Indonesia.
“The genotype of hepatitis B virus and some specific mutations are associated with disease progression,” she explained.
In her research, Rury explained that the research focused on knowing the genotype distribution and mutation of the hepatitis B virus in Samarinda, Kalimantan because there was limited data there. From the research, she continued, serums were collected from 41 patients with advanced liver disease at Abdul Wahab Sjahranie’s Hospital and compared with hepatitis B carriers collected from the Red Cross in Samarinda.
In the end, Rury also stated that the results of the research showed that genotype B was the genotype that was most often found both in advanced liver disease patients and hepatitis B virus carriers with 85.4% and 97.8%, while the hepatitis virus B with genotype C is 14.6% in patients with advanced liver disease and 2.2% in HBV carriers. With some mutations detected in patients with advanced liver disease, namely C1505A in the X region, T1753V and A1762T / G1764A in the BCP (Basal core promoter) region and C1858T in the PC region (Precore).
“Some of these specific mutations are considered related to the emergence of the development of advanced liver disease, such as liver cirrhosis and liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma,” she concluded. (*)
Author: Asthesia Dhea Cantika
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
Details of the research available at
