Search results for "Hepatitis B Core Antigens"
showing 10 items of 45 documents
Rab33B Controls Hepatitis B Virus Assembly by Regulating Core Membrane Association and Nucleocapsid Processing
2017
Many viruses take advantage of cellular trafficking machineries to assemble and release new infectious particles. Using RNA interference (RNAi), we demonstrate that the Golgi/autophagosome-associated Rab33B is required for hepatitis B virus (HBV) propagation in hepatoma cell lines. While Rab33B is dispensable for the secretion of HBV subviral envelope particles, its knockdown reduced the virus yield to 20% and inhibited nucleocapsid (NC) formation and/or NC trafficking. The overexpression of a GDP-restricted Rab33B mutant phenocopied the effect of deficit Rab33B, indicating that Rab33B-specific effector proteins may be involved. Moreover, we found that HBV replication enhanced Rab33B expres…
Antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen in blood donors screened for alanine aminotransferase level and hepatitis non-A, non-B in recipients.
1988
Four-hundred and seventeen patients undergoing open-heart surgery were followed for more than 9 months after transfusion. All 2270 blood units transfused had alanine aminotransferase levels less than or equal to 30 U/l. Blood units positive for antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) were more frequently associated with recipient hepatitis non-A, non-B (HNANB) (13.7%) than anti-HBc-negative units (4.2%) (p less than 0.001). The frequency of HNANB among recipients of at least 1 anti-HBc-positive blood unit (8/79, 10.1%) was fivefold greater than among recipients of exclusively anti-HBc-negative blood units (7/338, 2.1%) (p less than 0.01). In this study the exclusion of donors posi…
Hepatitis B virus-specific T-cell responses during IFN administration in a small cohort of chronic hepatitis B patients under nucleos(t)ide analogue …
2013
The effect of pegylated interferon-α (IFN) add-on therapy on HBV-specific T-cell responses was evaluated in 12 patients with stable, undetectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) load under nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated at week 0, 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 of IFN add-on therapy. Quantity and quality of circulating HBV S- and core-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells were analysed ex vivo by flow cytometry. HBV S- and core-specific CD4 T-cell numbers modestly increased within 8 weeks of IFN administration (P = 0.0391 and P = 0.0195), whereas HBV-specific CD8 T cells in general showed only minor changes under IFN add-on therapy. Functionality of HBV-specific CD4 bu…
High risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in anti-HBe positive liver cirrhosis patients developing lamivudine resistance
2004
The emergence of drug-resistant virus in hepatitis B virus patients treated with lamivudine is well documented. However. its clinical impact in the long-term treatment of anti-HBe positive compensated cirrhotic patients is not well known. In this study, we treated 22 consecutive patients with anti-HBe compensated cirrhosis with lamivudine for a median period of 42 months. All patients responded to lamivudine, but viral breakthrough occurred in 13 patients (59%) between 9 and 42 months of therapy due to the emergence of a mutant strain. During the follow-up, 11 developed hepatocellular carcinoma. Of these, 10 occurred soon after the emergence of viral resistance, generally showing aggressive…
Quantitative and functional analysis of core-specific T-helper cell and CTL activities in acute and chronic hepatitis B
2008
Aims/background CD4+ T-helper cell (Th) responses to hepatitis B virus (HBV) core antigen (HBc) are increased during exacerbations in acute and chronic hepatitis B (AHB, CHB) and might influence the induction of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) that are important for viral clearance. Methods HBc-specific proliferative responses and cytokine release of blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were studied in patients with AHB or CHB, as well as responders and non-responders to interferon-alpha treatment (IFN-R, IFN-NR), by [3H]-thymidine-uptake, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Elispot assay and were compared to peptide HBc18 27-specific CTL precursor frequencies among CD8+ T cells deri…
Can the serological status of anti-HBc alone be considered a sentinel marker for detection of occult HBV infection?
2008
Some individuals have “occult” infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV), defined as presence of HBV genome in the serum or liver tissue without HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) in the serum. The aim of this study was to investigate whether serum antibodies against HBV core antigen in isolation (“anti-HBc alone”) are a useful marker of “occult” HBV in patients with or without hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. “Anti-HBc alone” was detected in the sera of 119/6,544 (1.8%) asymptomatic outpatients referred to the diagnostic laboratory for routine testing for viral hepatitis, 62/607 (10.2%) drug users, and 42/195 (21.5%) patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Using three in-house nested-PCR amplifica…
Serological pattern of Hepatitis B, C, and HIV infections among immigrants in Sicily: epidemiological aspects and implication on public health.
2011
The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in a cohort of immigrants living in Palermo, Sicily. The study was carried out in the period May 2006-June 2010 and recruited a total of 393 patients (59.8% males-median age of 32.6 years). All patients were tested for serological markers of HBV, HCV, and HIV infection. One-hundred thirty-eight (35.1%) individuals did not show any HBV/HCV/HIV serological marker, while 186 (47.3%) were indicative of past or current HBV infection. A total of 42 (10.7%) subjects were HBsAg positive, 59 (15.0%) showed the serological profile "anti-HBc …
Occult hepatitis B virus in liver tissue of individuals without hepatic disease
2008
Abstract BACKGROUND/AIMS: While many data are available concerning occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with hepatic disorders, there is little information about this cryptic infection in individuals without liver disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of occult HBV in the general population by examining liver specimens from a large series of HBV-surface-antigen negative individuals with no clinical and biochemical evidence of liver disease. METHODS: The presence of HBV DNA was evaluated by testing, through polymerase chain reaction techniques, DNA extracts from 98 liver-disease-free individuals who underwent liver resection or needle biopsy during …
Rare pre-core stop-codon mutant nt. 1897 predominates over wide-spread mutant nt. 1896 in an unusual course of chronic hepatitis B
1996
We present a patient with an unusual course of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative chronic hepatitis B who had repeated reactivations of his disease progressing to cirrhosis with terminal liver failure. Each flare up presented like an acute hepatitis with very high titres of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and high inflammatory activity followed by rapid clearance of viraemia. The pre-core genome of HBV isolated from sera during 5 years of follow up was analysed. Direct sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products derived from consecutive sera showed a rare pre-core stop-codon mutation at nucleotide (nt.) 1897 G --> A with an accompanying mutation nt. 1857 C --> T as well as a stop-cod…
Vaccination Against Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) in HIV-1-Infected Patients With Isolated Anti-HBV Core Antibody: The ANRS HB EP03 CISOVAC Prospective Stu…
2016
International audience; Although an isolated anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) core antibody (anti-HBc) serological profile is frequent in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, data on HBV vaccination in these patients are scarce. A prospective multicenter study was conducted to assess the immunogenicity of HBV vaccination in 54 patients with an isolated anti-HBc profile and undetectable HIV load. They were vaccinated with 1 dose (20 µg) of recombinant HBV vaccine. Those with an anti-HBV surface antibody (anti-HBs) level of 100 mIU/mL 4 weeks after a single recall dose of HBV vaccine should be further vaccinated with a reinforced triple double-dose scheme.