Complexes between hbsag and igm in serum of patients with acute hepatitis

✍ Scribed by Mario Toti; Paolo Almi; Roberto Rizzi; Ferruccio Bonino; Mario Palla

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 386 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.1890110208

✦ Synopsis

HBsAg bound to IgM was measured in the serum of HBsAg carriers with acute hepatitis using a radioimmunoassay based on selective absorption of IgM on solid phase coated with antiserum to human IgM.

HBsAgiIgM was detected in 94 (100%) patients with acute type B hcpatitk during the acute phase of infection and persisted after the fourth week only in 13 of them, who developed chronic liver disease. HBsAgiIgM was detected only in 1 patient out of 15 carriers of the HBsAg with superimposed non-B hepatitis. No activity was found in serum of 20 patients with acute HRsAg-negative hepatitis.

The nature of the IgM component of the complex is uncertain, however, blocking experiments of the HBsAg/IgM reaction with polymerized human albumin suggest that the IgM component of the complex might represent antibody to the denatured protein. Persistent HBsAgiIgM complex detection in patients with acute type B hepatitis provides a useful tool to predict transition of HBV infection to chronicity. Its absence in patients with acute HBsAg-positive hepatitis is indicative of non-B hepatitis in chronic carriers of the HBsAg.