OBJECTIVE To determine whether the high prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriage in our population can explain the previous observation of an association between increased maternal serum ferritin concentration and gestational diabetes in Hong Kong Chinese women. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A retrospective study was performed on 767 nonanemic women with singleton pregnancy wh...

The long-term hepatic complications after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in hepatitis B virus (HBV) endemic area are unknown. We examined the serological and liver-related outcome of 803 consecutive patients who received allogeneic HSCTs, with a median follow-up period of 83 months (range, 0.5-155 months). Late HBV-related hepatitis occurred in 2 of the 721 hepatitis ...

The currently marketed hepatitis B vaccines in the U.S. are based on the recombinant major hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) of hepatitis B virus. Although a large majority of individuals develop protective immunity to HBV-induced disease after three immunizations, routinely a small but a significant percentage of the human population does not respond well to these vaccines. In this report, w...

Different protein- or DNA-based vaccination techniques are available that prime potent humoral and cellular, T1 or T2 immune responses to the hepatitis B surface Ag (HBsAg) in mice. T1 and T2 are immune responses with isotype profile indicating Th1 and Th2 immunoregulation. We tested whether HBsAg-specific immune responses can be established in transgenic mice that express HBsAg in the liver (H...

BACKGROUND The ultimate goal of hepatitis B treatment is hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearance. Several factors have been suggested to be associated with the rate of HBsAg reduction in antiviral-naive or lamivudine therapy cohorts. However, there are few studies evaluating the factors during long-term entecavir (ETV) therapy. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the factors to...

BACKGROUND Vaccine-escaped hepatitis B virus (HBV) mutations occur within the "a" determinant area, which is located in the major hydrophilic region (MHR) of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) protein. It is now well established that the common G145R mutation is highly capable of escaping from HBsAg immune recognition. However, the impacts of this mutation on the structure and immunogenic ...

BACKGROUND Commercially available prophylactic vaccines containing hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), which are used to prevent HBV infections, are not as effective as a therapeutic immune modulator for treating patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). In this study, the immunogenicity of dendritic cells (DC) loaded with both HBsAg and hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) was tested in HBV transg...

This clinically relevant review focuses on recent findings concerning hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) quantitation in untreated patients and treated patients with chronic hepatitis B. Recent studies and emerging data have shown that both HBsAg and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels decline during the natural course of a chronic HBV infection; they are lowest in the inactive phase, which is ...

A survey of hepatitis B patients, asymptomatic hepatitis B antigen (HBsAg) carriers, and control subjects was conducted to determine the relationship between antigenemia and antigen excretion in saliva, urine, and stool. Radioimmunoassay was used to detect HBsAg. Specificity-confirmed HBsAg was detected in the saliva of 6 (30%) of 20 antigenemic patients, 1 (5%) of 20 nonantigenemic patients, 1...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B core antibodies (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA among a selected group of Omani blood donors. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hundred HBsAg-negative donors were screened for anti-HBc. Those found to be positive were investigated for HBV DNA by polymerase chain reaction. HB...