{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T23:39:35Z","timestamp":1785368375242,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,29]],"date-time":"2024-08-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1724889600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medical Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This research aims to determine whether HLA heterozygosity confers a protective effect against hepatitis B virus infection by analyzing the relationship between HLA diversity and the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. A total of 327 hepatitis B patients were selected and categorized based on their clinical status: 284 patients with chronic HBV infection and 43 patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis (LC). The control group included 304 healthy individuals. HLA genotyping for 11 loci, including HLA class I and class II, was conducted using next-generation sequencing. The results of this study indicate a statistically significant negative correlation between HLA class II heterozygosity and the risk of HBV infection. Specifically, heterozygosity in HLA-DQB1 (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.31\u20130.76, p = 0.01277) and HLA-DRB1 (OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.24\u20130.77, p = 0.01855) were significantly associated with protection. Subgroup analysis was conducted to explore the effect of HLA diversity among pathological subtypes (chronic hepatitis B and control group, liver cirrhosis and control group). For liver cirrhosis, compared with the control group, a decreased risk of LC was possibly associated with the heterozygosity of HLA class I locus B (OR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.09\u20130.65, p = 0.0591), but this hypothesis was not confirmed by other studies. The diversity of HLA, measured by HLA heterozygosity, was associated with a protective effect against HBV infection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medsci12030044","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,29]],"date-time":"2024-08-29T03:40:39Z","timestamp":1724902839000},"page":"44","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["HLA Genetic Diversity and Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection: Effect of Heterozygosity Advantage"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Adriana","family":"T\u0103l\u0103ngescu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Immunology and Transplant Immunology, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"Centre of Immunogenetics and Virology, Fundeni Clinical Institute, 258 Fundeni Avenue, 022328 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-5202-4657","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria","family":"Tizu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Immunology and Transplant Immunology, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"Centre of Immunogenetics and Virology, Fundeni Clinical Institute, 258 Fundeni Avenue, 022328 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bogdan","family":"Calenic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Immunology and Transplant Immunology, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6398-5837","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dan Florin","family":"Mih\u0103ilescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Animal Physiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei Street, No. 91\u201395, 050095 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexandra Elena","family":"Constantinescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Immunology and Transplant Immunology, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cEmil Palade\u201d Centre of Excellence for Young People in Scientific Research (EP-CEYR), 3 Ilfov Street, Sector 5, 050045 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5828-2694","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ileana","family":"Constantinescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Immunology and Transplant Immunology, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"Centre of Immunogenetics and Virology, Fundeni Clinical Institute, 258 Fundeni Avenue, 022328 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cEmil Palade\u201d Centre of Excellence for Young People in Scientific Research (EP-CEYR), 3 Ilfov Street, Sector 5, 050045 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"Academy of Romanian Scientists (AOSR), 3 Ilfov Street, Sector 5, 050045 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"European Association for the Study of the Liver (2017). 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