Levels of Pre‐S antigens and HBV DNA in sera from high and low viremic HBV carriers

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Abstract
The biological and clinical significances of pre‐S antigens and HBV replication were investigated. Some 125 sera, 28 from HBeAg and 97 from anti‐HBe‐positive HBsAg, carriers were studied. The aim was to verify whether pre‐S antigens could be expressed in serum in complete absence of viremia. Pre‐S proteins, determined by an enzyme immunoassay, were found in sera regardless of the presence of HBV DNA, as detected by spot‐hybridization. The sera without detectable HBV DNA were investigated further by PCR using specific primers for the S and C regions of HBV. PCR analysis of samples revealed that 4 out of 5 HBeAg and 33 out of 41 (80.5%) anti‐HBe positive sera contained HBV amplified sequences of S and C regions. Pre‐S antigen values correlated well with the amounts of HBV DNA in serum detected by PCR in anti HBe‐positive subjects with high titers of pre‐S antigens (104−106). In addition, PCR highlighted the presence of HBV DNA sequences in 8 out of 17 (47.1%) pre‐S‐negative HBsAg‐positive sera.