Wild-type levels of pregenomic RNA and replication but reduced pre-C RNA and e-antigen synthesis of hepatitis B virus with C(1653) → T, A(1762) → T and G(1764) → A mutations in the core promoter Günther, Stephan and Piwon, Nils and Will, Hans,, 79, 375-380 (1998), doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-79-2-375, publicationName = Microbiology Society, issn = 0022-1317, abstract= Hepatitis B virus (HBV) isolates with A-1762 to T and G-1764 to A mutations in the core promoter have been associated with active hepatitis, severe liver disease following liver transplantation, hepatocellular carcinoma and acute fulminant courses-in the latter case combined with a C- 1653 to T mutation. In this study, a mutant core promoter region containing the T-1653, T-1762 and A-1764 mutations was placed into the context of a wild-type HBV genome and analysed by transfection. The mutations reduced the level of pre-C mRNA (by 55%) and e-antigen secretion. In contrast, no significant effects on the levels of pregenome/C and pre-S/S mRNAs, intracellular core, polymerase, and pre-S1/S2 proteins and secreted S-antigen were observed. The amount of progeny virus DNA in the cells and in the culture medium was increased marginally, if at all., language=, type=