Hepatitis b e antigen and antibody: detection by radioimmunoassay in chimpanzees during experimental hepatitis b

✍ Scribed by Edward Tabor; Gert Frösner; Friedrich Deinhardt; Robert J. Gerety

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 592 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.1890060112

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and its antibody (anti‐HBe) were evaluated using a sensitive radioimmunoassay (RIA) in weekly serum samples obtained from nine chimpanzees experimentally infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). In two chimpanzees with HBV infection with detectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) for less than five weeks, and in one chimpanzee with documented HBV infection with no detectable HBsAg, HBeAg was not detected; in all three, anti‐HBe became detectable early in the infection. In six chimpanzees in which HBsAg was detected for 16 weeks or longer, HBeAg was detected early in the infection; in five, anti‐HBe became detectable and HBeAg unde‐tectable prior to the clearance of HBsAg. The sixth remained HBsAg‐positive and HBeAg‐positive for more than two years and never developed anti‐HBe. These results confirm the sensitivity of this RIA and its value in predicting the course of HBV infections.