Author information

¹Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

²Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

³Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

⁴Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

⁵Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Abstract

After recovery from a hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, reactivation can occur with immunosuppression; thus, it is assumed that replication competent HBV persists in the liver. We sought to detect persistent HBV from 13 people with spontaneous recovery. We quantified HBV DNA and RNA in core liver biopsy specimens (median, 1.72 × 106 cells) from persons who inject drugs. Of 13 biopsy specimens, 8 (61%) had evidence of HBV DNA or RNA and 5 (38%) had both HBV DNA and RNA. Messenger RNAs were derived from covalently closed circular DNA and integrated HBV DNA. Here, we show prevalent HBV DNA and RNA despite clinical recovery in persons who inject drugs.