Hepatitis B Virus RNA Profiles in Liver Biopsies by Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction
Kasthuri Prakash, Simon B. Larsson, Gustaf E. Rydell, Maria E. Andersson, Johan Ringlander, Gunnar Norkrans, Heléne Norder, Magnus Lindh – 29 March 2020 – Replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV) originates from covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) and involves reverse transcription of pregenomic RNA (pgRNA), which is also called core RNA and encodes the capsid protein. The RNA coding for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in the envelope of viral or subviral particles is produced from cccDNA or from HBV DNA integrated into the host genome.