CORRELATION BETWEEN HEPATIC HEPATITIS-B CORE ANTIGEN AND SERUM HEPATITIS-B VIRUS-DNA LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS-B VIRUS-INFECTIONS IN TAIWAN

  • 1 February 1987
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 111  (2) , 181-184
Abstract
Paired liver biopsy specimens and serum samples from 76 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection were taken for staining of hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) by immunoperoxidase and testing of HBV-DNA by a spot hybridization technique, respectively. Thirty-two tissue specimens showed positive staining for HBcAg in their hepatocytes. The two patients with diffuse HBcAg expression in liver tissue also had high serum concentrations of HBV-DNA (> 10 pg/10 .mu.L). Among 30 patients with focal HBcAg distribution, 28 patients (93.3%) had measurable levels of serum HBV-DNA and 17 patients (60.7%) had high levels of serum HBV-DNA. Of 44 patients without hepatic HBcAg expression, only 12 patients (27.3%) had detectable serum HBV-DNA, and most patients (93.1% [11/12]) had low concentrations (< 10 pg/10 .mu.L). Nineteen patients had superimposed hepatitis B virus infection, and, of these, three patients (15.8%) had detectable serum HBV-DNA in low concentrations, while one of the three patients had stainable HBcAg in this hepatocytes with focal distribution. Two of the three patients with hepatitis A virus superinfection who had focal HBcAg expression in their liver tissue had serum HBV-DNA levels that were high during the acute phase of hepatitis A virus infection, and in one patient his serum HBV-DNA levels further increased from 10 pg/10 .mu.L to 40 pg/10 .mu.L during the recovery phase. Thus, measurement of serum HBV-DNA levels in patients with chronic HBV infection correlated well with their hepatic HBcAg expression, and both represent the precise status of HBV replication.