Natural YMDD-motif mutants affect clinical course of lamivudine in chronic hepatitis B

Table 2 Characteristics of patients at the beginning of the lamivudine therapy

	Patients with YMDD variants (n = 40)	Patients without YMDD variants (n = 40)	P value
Age (yr)	42 ± 14	43 ± 12	NS
Sex (male/female)	23/17	23/17	Matched
Liver cirrhosis, n (%)	6 (15.0)	7 (17.5)	NS
Family history1, n (%)	21(52.5)	19 (47.5)	NS
Median duration of treatment (mo)	24 ± 6	24 ± 5	NS
Aspartate aminotransferase (IU/L)	81 ± 21	61 ± 27	NS
Alanine aminotransferase (IU/L)	132 ± 12	106 ± 16	NS
Serum bilirubin (μmol/L)	28.7 ± 13.4	31.8 ± 15.5	NS
Serum albumin (g/L)	38 ± 12	36 ± 13	NS
HBV-DNA (LGE/mL)	6.7 ± 2.7	6.8 ± 2.8	Matched
HBeAg positive, n (%)	15 (37.5)	15 (37.5)	Matched
HBV genotype (A/B/C/other)	1/4/33/2	0/4/32/4	NS

¹Family history of positive hepatitis B surface antigen, including third-degree relatives. YMDD: Tyrosine-methionine-aspartic acid-aspartic acid; NS: Not significant; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; LGE: Log10 genome equivalents; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen.