Hepatitis B is of the main causes of liver cell carcinoma (HCC) and Cirrhosis. It has been shown that HBV genome nucleotide diversity affects the disease progression. Therefore, genotyping of hepatitis B virus can be crucial step in clinical and epidemiological diagnosis. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of HBV genotypes among patients from two Iranian cities, Sari and Rasht, by using a molecular technique, Multiplex allele-specific PCR. This study was done on 160 patients with hepatitis B (HBsAg positive) during year 2010-2011. Samples were collected from Rasht and Sari counties in northern Iran. After extraction of HBV DNA, their genotypes were determined by Multiplex allele-specific PCR method. The data obtained were analyzed through electrophoresis of amplified fragments on Agarose gel and compared with size marker. 93.8% of patients (150 samples) were positive only for genotypes D, while 6.2% showed a mix of different genotypes including D(2.9%), F (2.5%), B (0.4%), and A (0.4%). The result obtained by this study showed that Multiplex allele-specific PCR can be used as a precise technique for identification of different genotypes of hepatitis B virus in both large scale epidemiological investigations and clinical studies.
