Hepatitis B virus mutations related to liver disease progression of Korean patients

Figure 1 The 4 major factors in Korean chronic patients leading to distinct clinical or epidemiologic traits for hepatitis B virus. Combinatorial effect of 4 major factors (1) exclusive predominance of genotype C2; (2) high prevalence of perinatal infection; (3) high prevalence of basic core promoter mutations; and (4) the presence of distinct immune pressure) could generate distinct hepatitis B virus (HBV) variants or diverse quasispecies during the natural course of chronic hepatitis B, resultantly leading to distinct clinical or epidemiological traits in Korean chronic patients. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; CHB: Chronic hepatitis B.