Gender-Based Disparities in Hepatitis B Virus X Gene Detection in the Patients Undergoing Antiviral Treatments

The Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a 3.2 kb long virus belonging to the Hepadnavirus family. It has a variety of clinical symptoms, with chronic hepatitis like liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular cancer, based on immunological interactions between the virus and the host. Compared to the other genes of HBV, the X gene is highly conserved in the virus's genomic characteristics. Many mutations in the X gene of HBV can lead to the severity and other disease complications. This study was designed to determine the HBV X gene's detection in local patients' serum samples. Out of 40 collected samples from HBV patients, 24 (12 from each male and female patient) were identified as chronically HBV samples through various diagnostic approaches such as ICT rapid test, ELISA, and Real-time PCR. The samples used for DNA extraction yielded an excellent concentration of DNA ranging from 2.4ng/µl to 9.8 ng/µl. The HBV X gene-specific primers set showed results at 55°C for Nested PCR. The results were confirmed with gel electrophoresis. A band size of 597bp compared with the 1kb and 50bp DNA ladder was observed. The PCR-amplified products were purified and sent for sequencing. The sequencing results have significantly helped to analyze the sequences of the X gene (Consensus Sequence of local isolates) using bioinformatics tools like nBLAST, BioEdit, Expasy, MEGA11, and Phylogenetic analysis. The study indicated that despite taking antiviral treatment, the detection of the HBV X gene in chronically infected male patients is more than in female patients. The statistical analysis determined a significant difference (p<0.05) between the detection of the HBV X gene in males and females. In the future, this study will contribute to designing more specific assays and combined targeted therapies for Chronic HBV infection caused explicitly by mutations in the HBV X gene.