Molecular Basis for Persistent Hepatitis B Virus Infection In the Liver After Clearance of Serum Hepatitis B Surface Antigen

table 1. Southern Blot Studies of Hepatic Nucleic Acids Amplified by Either RT-PCR Using Primers Complementary to the HBV Core and Surface Genes or Seminested PCR Using Primers Flanking the HBV DR Region

Patients	Months After HBsAg Clearance	RT-PCR for HBV RNA		Seminested PCR
Patients	Months After HBsAg Clearance	HBV Core Gene Primers	HBV Surface Gene Primers	HBV DR Region Primers

Study group^*
1	3	+	+	+
2	3	+	+
3	9		+	+
4^*	24
5	46			+
6	47
7	67	+	+
Controls
HBsAg-positive		12/13	11/13	3/3
HBsAg-negative		0/4	0/4	0/4

^* All study group patients HBV-DNA-positive in the liver by PCR except for patient 4.8 Patients 1, 2, and 3 represent patients 1, 2, and 3 in Kuhns,8 whereas patients 4, 5, 6, and 7 in this table are patients 7, 4, 5, and 6, respectively, as tabulated in Kuhns.⁸ HBV-DNA-positive in serum by PCR.8