The nomenclature of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genes and their products has developed stepwise, occasionally in an erratic way, creating many misunderstandings, especially among those who do not know the structure of HBV and its genome in detail. One of the most frequent misunderstandings, even presented in leading journals, is the designation of HBV "e"-antigen as envelope or early antigen. Another problem area are the so-called "pre" regions in the HBV genome present upstream of both the core and the surface genes of HBV, inadvertently suggesting that they may be a part of corresponding precursor proteins. Misnomers and misclassifications are frequent in defining the subgenotypes and serological subtypes of HBV. Even the well-established terminology for HBV surface (HBs) or HBV core (HBc) antigen deviates from the conventional virological nomenclature for viral envelopes or capsid proteins/antigens, respectively. Another matter of undesirable variability between publications is the numbering of the nucleotides and the graphical representation of genomic maps. This editorial briefly explains how the nomenclature evolved, what it really means, and suggests how it could be adapted to today's knowledge.

中文翻译：

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乙型肝炎病毒基因的名称，其产品及其抗原特异性的特殊性：可能引起误解。

乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）基因及其产品的命名法是逐步发展的，偶尔会以不稳定的方式发展，这引起了许多误解，尤其是在那些不了解HBV结构及其基因组的人中。甚至在领先的期刊中也提到的最常见的误解之一是将HBV“ e”抗原指定为包膜或早期抗原。另一个问题领域是存在于HBV核心和表面基因上游的HBV基因组中的所谓“前”区，无意中表明它们可能是相应前体蛋白的一部分。错误的定义和错误分类在定义HBV的亚基因型和血清学亚型中很常见。甚至对于HBV表面（HBs）或HBV核心（HBc）抗原而言，既定的术语也分别偏离了病毒包膜或衣壳蛋白/抗原的常规病毒学术语。出版物之间不希望有的变异性的另一个问题是核苷酸的编号和基因组图的图形表示。这篇社论简要地解释了命名法的演变，其真正含义，并提出了如何将其适应当今的知识。