Evidence of extrachromosomal forms of hepatitis B viral DNA in a bone marrow culture obtained from a patient recently infected with hepatitis B virus.

A cell culture that produces Dane-like particles was initiated from a bone marrow aspirate of an acute hepatitis B patient. By using Southern blot analysis and a recombinant hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA plasmid probe, extrachromosomal forms of HBV DNA were detected. The two forms of HBV DNA migrate as a closed circular 2.2-kb form and an open circular 3.9-kb form. There was no evidence of HBV DNA integration into the host genome.