ANTI-HBC TITER IN RELATION TO ETIOLOGICAL ROLE OF HEPATITIS-B VIRUS PRIMARY HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 24  (1) , 3-6
Abstract
Antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) is believed to be a marker for natural infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV). To study the etiological role of HBV in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC), the anti-HBc in sera of 31 PHC patients was surveyed by immune adherence hemagglutination which was about 10 times more sensitive than complement fixation. Of 31 PHC cases, 22 were positive for anti-HBc (71.0%). This is a higher incidence rate than that of HBs-Ag [hepatitis B surface antigen] (51.6%). However, high anti-HBc titer > 210 which might reflect current infection with HBV was observed in 15 of these 22 cases. The remaining 7 cases had a titer < 28; 5 of these patients had neither HBs-Ag nor anti-HBs in their sera. As control, 37 anti-HBs positive blood donors with no definite liver disease were surveyed for anti-HBc titer; 34 were positive, but in most cases, the serum titer was < 29, which might only reflect previous infection with HBV. Evidently the prevalence of anti-HBc and the determination of its real titer are both important for studying the relationship of HBV to PHC.

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