HLA-DPB1 and chronic hepatitis B virus infection: However, Thomas et al. (11) reported that HLA-DPB1 rs9277534 was significantly associated with HBV recovery in both African-American and European populations; while HLA-DPB1 rs9277535, which strongly associated with chronic hepatitis B infection in Asia, only had a marginal effect on HBV infection in African-American and European populations.