Are in vitro hepatitis B core promoter mutations important for clinical alterations in viral load?

In vitro studies of HBV core promoter mutations in hepatoma cell lines suggest that some mutations in core promoter transcription factor binding sites result in reduced core promoter activity and viral replication. We sought to validate this hypothesis using clinical samples with viral load differences before and after HBeAg seroconversion. A consensus sequence for transcription factor binding sites/regulatory regions was constructed based on published studies.