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Antibodies in Anti‐HBe—positive patient sera bind to an HBe protein expressed on the cell surface of human hepatoma cells: Implications for virus clearance
Author(s) -
Schlicht Hansjürgen,
von Brunn Albrecht,
Theilmann Lorenz
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.1840130109
Subject(s) - antibody , virology , seroconversion , titer , virus , immunology , biology , cell , genetics
The relevance of the recently described membrane‐bound form of the HBe protein for the antiviral immune response was examined. The data show that antibodies in anti‐HBe, but not in anti‐HBc—positive human sera efficiently bind to the membrane expressed HBe. No evidence was obtained that the HBc can reach the cell surface in a form that can be detected with human antibodies. The findings suggest that the decline of virus titer that is usually observed after seroconversion from HBe to anti‐HBe might be the result of an antibody‐mediated elimination of infected cells. (H EPATOLOGY 1991;13:57–61).