Comparison of the clinical features between patients with the wild type and mutations in the preC/C region.

aA mutation was defined through comparisons with the consensus sequence of HBV strains in our cohort and 17 reference strains.bN.S: Not significant.cCH: Chronic hepatitis, LC: Liver cirrhosis, HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.dThe number of patients whose ALT levels were greater than the upper limits of normal ALT levels for men (30 IU/L) and women (19 IU/L) [46].