Expression of the hepatitis b virus genome in chronic hepatitis b carriers

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Medicine University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the degree of Master of Science Johannesburg 1986The methylation status of CCGG sites in hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was examined to determine whether methylation could be responsible for the selective expression of the HBV surface gene in the progression of chronic hepatitis B infection and hepatocellular carcinoma. Total cellular DNA, determined to have sufficient HBV DNA, was digested with the restriction endonucleases Mspl and Hpall, to determine whether the HBV DNA was methylated, or HindiII, to determine whether the HBV DNA was integrated. The cleavage fragments were analysed by Southern blotting and hybridisation to •32p- labelled HBV DNA.IT201