Establishment of rapid and specific real-time PCR assays for the detection of hepatitis B viral genotype in tibet.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) with a C/D recombinant genotype is dominant in Tibet. A rapid, simple and specific genotyping system, consisting of three real-time PCR assays, was developed for the determination of genotypes C and D as well as two forms of recombinant C/D. Overall, 95% of the 22 samples were genotyped accurately.

A specific splicing variant of SVH, a novel human armadillo repeat protein, is up-regulated in hepatocellular carcinomas.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors with poor prognosis. By representational difference analysis (RDA), a novel human gene designated SVH, up-regulated in the clinical HCC sample, was identified. The deduced SVH protein consisted of 343 amino acids with a transmembrane domain and an armadillo repeat.