All Journals > Clinical Infectious Diseases > 1 May 2007 > Anti‐HBs among Patients with Chronic HBV

Article Tools

Search for Related Articles

  • By Author
  • Search In

Announcements

CID LISTED AMONG
“MOST INFLUENTIAL”

Clinical Infectious Diseases has been named as one of the "100 Most Influential Journals in Biology and Medicine" of the past 100 years by the Special Libraries Association. The list was compiled by the 680-plus members of SLA’s Biomedical and Life Sciences Division.

See the full list here.

Source: The DBIO 100, the 100 Most Influential Journals in Biology & Medicine over the last 100 Years

In the News

Featured in MSNBC
"Germs and flu are up; infection control is down" June 9, 2009
Trends in the Incidence of Methicillin‐Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection in Children’s Hospitals in the United States
Jeffrey S. Gerber, Susan E. Coffin, Sarah A. Smathers, and Theoklis E. Zaoutis
Just this week, researchers reported that the incidence of MRSA infections among children admitted to pediatric hospitals in the United States more than tripled between 2002 and 2007. Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania found cases of MRSA jumped from 6.7 per 1,000 admissions in 2002 to 21.1 cases per 1,000 admissions in 2007, according to a study released online Monday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Featured in Toronto Star
"Pigs, viruses and politics" May 2, 2009
Are Swine Workers in the United States at Increased Risk of Infection with Zoonotic Influenza Virus?
Kendall P. Myers, Christopher W. Olsen, Sharon F. Setterquist, Ana W. Capuano, Kelley J. Donham, Eileen L. Thacker, James A. Merchant, and Gregory C. Gray
Another study, this one published in the U.S. journal Clinical Infectious Diseases in 2006, found that workers in meat-processing plants have a greater likelihood of being infected by some version of the H1N1 flu virus than the general population (the odds of pig farmers getting the disease are significantly greater again).

Featured in Philadelphia Inquirer
"A shot in the arm for vaccines" April 19, 2009
Vaccines: Pneumococcal Vaccination of Elderly Adults: New Paradigms for Protection
Lisa A. Jackson and Edward N. Janoff
Every year, an estimated 915,000 people 65 and older get pneumonia, and 40 percent of them end up in hospitals, according to a 2004 paper in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Pneumonia often kills older people, said Richard Stefanacci, a geriatrician at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

1 May 2007

Volume 44, Number 9
Clinical Infectious Diseases 2007;44:1161–1169
© 2007 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.
1058-4838/2007/4409-0005$15.00
DOI: 10.1086/513200
MAJOR ARTICLE

Coexistence of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg) and Heterologous Subtype‐Specific Antibodies to HBsAg among Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Ji‐Ming Zhang,1,2,4

Yang Xu,3,4

Xin‐Yu Wang,1

You‐Kuan Yin,1

Xiang‐Hui Wu,1

Xin‐Hua Weng,1 and

Mengji Lu3,4

1Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, and 2Key Laboratory of Medical MolecularVirology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, and 3Department of Microbiology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China; and 4Institut für Virologie, Universitätsklinkum Essen, Germany

Background.The coexistence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies to HBsAg (anti‐HBs) in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been explained by the presence of viral escape mutants. Yet, no systematic analysis of such patients has been performed. We analyzed both the HBV strains and the nature of anti‐HBs in such patients.

Methods.Four hundred eleven patients with chronic HBV infection were tested for the presence of anti‐HBs. The sequences of the HBsAg coding region were analyzed. Anti‐HBs were purified and examined in commercial assays alone and with 3 different HBsAg subtypes.

Results.Twenty patients had positive results for anti‐HBs. This serological status remained stable for 12 months (as tested thus far). Amino acid substitutions and/or variations on HBsAg were found in 13 patients, and the HBV isolates from 4 others were wild types. Importantly, no significant difference in the occurrence of amino acid substitutions within the HBsAg was found in HBV isolates from patients with and without anti‐HBs. Purified immunoglobulin fractions from serum samples from patients were reactive to HBsAg but had a lower specific activity, compared with those taken from immunized persons. Anti‐HBs in patients were directed to the HBsAg subtypes other than the coexisting one. No circulating immune complex could be detected in these patients.

Conclusion.HBsAg and anti‐HBs with an unmatched specificity coexisted in 4.9% of patients. The presence of anti‐HBs was not associated with the appearance of specific HBV mutants in patients with chronic infection. Apparently, the presence of anti‐HBs in patients with chronic HBV infection did not lead to a selection of HBV escape mutants.

Received 4 October 2006; accepted 1 January 2007; electronically published 19 March 2007.

  • (See the editorial commentary by Gerlich on pages 1170–2)

Reprints of correspondence: Dr. Mengji Lu, Institut für Virologie, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Hufelandstrasse 55, 45122 Essen, Germany ().

Cited by

Wolfram H. Gerlich. (2007) Editorial Commentary: The Enigma of Concurrent Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg) and Antibodies to HBsAg. Clinical Infectious Diseases 44:9, 1170-1172
Online publication date: 1-May-2007.
Citation-Full Text-PDF Version (185 kB)
Back to Top
Close Popup