A sensitive radioimmunoassay method for HBeAg and anti-HBe allowed 98.4% of HBsAg positive blood donors to be classified. HBeAg was more prevalent in blood donors under 30 years of age and anti-HBe was more prevalent in those over 30 years. The mean HBsAg concentration was four times greater in donors with HBeAg than in those with anti-HBe. No significant associations were found with sex, blood...

This study compared the assay results of HBV markers obtained with two automated immunoassay systems in serum samples with concomitant HBV antigens and antibodies. Eighty-nine samples of concomitant HBsAg and anti-HBs and 74 samples of concomitant HBeAg and anti-HBe were analyzed by the Abbott Architect i2000 and the Roche Elecsys 2010 immunoassay systems. The overall concordance rates of the A...

The distribution and quantitative expression of HBcAg in relation to serum HBeAg and liver histology before and after a trial of interferon in 50 patients with chronic type B hepatitis were evaluated using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. In general, both antisera showed a similar pattern in terms of the distribution of HBcAg, with predominant localisation of HBcAg in the cytoplasm in HBeA...

Although Korea is one of the endemic areas for hepatitis B virus infection (HBV), the prevalence of deletions in HBV preS region occurring naturally have not been determined. In the present study, the prevalence of preS deletions was determined in terms of clinical state and HBeAg serostatus in 120 patients with different clinical features [59 HBeAg positive, 61 HBeAg negative; 38 asymptomatic ...

AIM To identify the factors associated with virologic breakthrough and to select a subgroup of patients who respond well to lamivudine without developing virologic breakthrough (VBT). METHODS Of 79 patients who had received lamivudine therapy for 9-57 mo, 34 were HBeAg-positive and 45 were HBeAg-negative, 24 developed virologic breakthrough and 55 did not. Clinical and virologic factors were ...

Twenty-six patients with HBsAg positive chronic hepatitis were treated for over 6 months with specific substance Maruyama (SSM) extracted from the cell wall of human tubercle bacilli. HBeAg was found to disappear in 6 out of the 14 patients (42.9%) with positive HBsAg 10.0•}7.4 months after the treatment began, and HBe seroconversion was found in 4 out of the 6 cases. A decrease of more than 22...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of peginterferon α-2a (pegIFN) and nucleos(t)ide analogues (NA) treatments in patients with hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with mild acute exacerbation (AE). METHODS Treatment-naive HBeAg-positive CHB patients with AE who received pegIFN or NA (entecavir (ETV) or telbivudine (LDT)) ...

The core promoter mutants of hepatitis B virus (HBV) emerge as the dominant viral population at the late HBeAg and the anti-HBe stages of HBV infection, with the A1762T/G1764A substitutions as the hotspot mutations. The double core promoter mutations were found by many investigators to moderately enhance viral genome replication and reduce hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) expression. A much higher...

background hepatitis b virus (hbv) infection is a serious global health problem that is associated with huge social and economic costs. early antiviral drugs, such as interferon-α2b, peginterferon-α2a, lamivudine, and adefovir, all have their limitations (such as low responses or safety concerns) in clinical application. telbivudine and entecavir are two of the latest nucleotide drugs and both ...