Although they are considered as antigen-presenting cells, the role of antigen-unspecific B lymphocytes in antigen presentation and T-lymphocyte stimulation remains controversial. In this paper, we tested the capacity of normal human peripheral activated B cells to stimulate T cells using melanoma antigens or melanoma cell lysates. B lymphocytes activated through CD40 ligation and then pulsed wi...

OBJECTIVE To establish the hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B 'e' antigen seroprevalence of mothers and their children aged 6-36 months and to assess the risk of hepatitis B transmission occurring in infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen positive mothers in Pakistan. METHODS Mothers and their children were selected from eight districts of three provinces that have been identifi...

literature review shows that hepatitis c infection may increase the risk of non-hodgkin lymphoma. reactivation of hepatitis b infection has been reported in patients with hairy cell leukemia after chemotherapy and/or splenectomy. we present hepatitis b surface (hbs) antigenemia and concurrent hepatitis c virus (hcv) seropositivity in a case of hairy cell leukemia. key words: hairy cell leukemia...

The immune response is initiated when an antigen is recognized by specific lymphocytes. Originally, ‘antigen’ was viewed as a simple entity that bound directly to lymphocyte antigen receptors: the B-cell antigen receptor complex that includes membrane-bound immunoglobulin, or the T-cell antigen receptor. It has been clear for a number of years, however, that conventional T cells recognize not f...

Levels of AgR (BCR) expression are regulated during B cell development, activation, and induction of tolerance. The mechanisms responsible for and consequences of this regulation are poorly understood. We have described a class of DNA-based autoantigen-reactive B cell that down-regulates BCR expression during development to mature follicular phenotype. In this study, we show that at immature st...

Using the Staphylococcus aureus absorption method, we have modified a commercial radioimmunoassay kit for the determination of total antibody to hepatitis B core antigen so that we can now determine the predominant globulin species of that antibody. One-hundred percent of acute hepatitis B sera had a predominance of immunoglobulin M antibody to hepatitis B core antigen, whereas immunoglobulin G...

Flagellar antigen of Bacillus cereus H.1 was purified and tested for serodiagnostic antigen by ELISA. The antibody against the flagellar antigen of B. cereus H.1 reacted not only with the homologous specific antigen but also reacted with the flagellar antigens of 23 strains of B. cereus. This common flagellar antigen of B. cereus was found to be due to 61-kDa protein by SDS-PAGE and immunoblot ...

the genome of hb v virus of serotype ayw cloned in pbr322 and expression shuttle vector p yes2 were used for construction of the hbsag chimeric genes and their expression in saccharomyces cerevisiae. two recombinant plasmids were constructed. one of them contained the coding sequences for the major polypeptide of surface antigen. another construct carried the major polypeptide with the pre-s2 a...

Anti-idiotype reagents that recognize a common idiotype associated with the combining site of antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) were used to manipulate the immune response to hepatitis B surface antigen in BALB/c mice. The injection of antibodies to the idiotype before antigenic stimulation resulted in an increase in the number of cells secreting immunoglobulin M antibodies t...