INTRODUCTION Co-infections between hepatitis B and HIV viruses are frequent due to their similar epidemiological characteristics. Worldwide, hepatitis B infection is one of the main causes of hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis. In Cuba as elsewhere, prevalences of hepatitis B and hepatitis C viral infections are higher in persons with HIV. These hepatitis viruses act as opportunistic infect...

By the direct immunofluorescence technique 19 liver biopsies were examined for the presence of the e-antigen associated with the hepatitis B virus infection. With the use of double incubation and blocking experiments with FITC and Rhodamine labelled antisera against hepatitis B core antigen and e-antigen, evidence is presented that the e-antigen is localised in the nuclei of the hepatocytes. We...

Mild detergent treatment (0.1% Sarkosyl-0.1% beta-mercaptoethanol) of Dane particle-rich fraction from human serum resulted in the release of core particles together with HBe antigen activity when examined by the reversed passive haemagglutination method. Furthermore, when the core particles isolated by the above procedure were exposed to stronger detergent (1% Sarkosyl-0.1% beta-mercaptoethano...

Hepatitis C virus infects over 15 million patients from India and 2.86 million from Brazil. Detection of anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies has limited sensitivity during acute phase: the pre-seroconversion window period. Hepatitis C virus-RNA detection techniques are used to overcome this shortfall, but are costly and unavailable widely in developing countries. Estimation of hepatitis C virus c...

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...

â  hepadnaviruses employ an unusual strategy for the production of enormous number of virions during replication which makes rapid and substantial genetic sequence changes and alterations. the pathogenesis and clearance of hepatitis b virus (hbv) infection are engaged by the selection and expression of viral mutants durâ­ing virus-host interactions. mutations in regulatory regions such as the b...

Serum hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) is an important marker of hepatitis B virus replication. We describe an easy, sensitive radioimmunoassay for determination of HBcAg in detergent-treated serum pellets containing Dane particles. Components of a commercial kits for anti-core determination are used, and HBcAG is measured by competitive inhibition of binding of 125I-labeled antibodies to HBcAg...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen (Ag) levels are known to be well correlating with HCV RNA levels, and may be used as an alternative marker of HCV replication for monitoring the response to HCV treatment. However, the low sensitivity of HCV core Ag assay has been an obstacle for clinical use. In this study, recently developed ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay (Abbott Laboratories, USA) was ...