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Detection of hepatitis B surface antigen by a monoclonal radioimmunoassay in the serum of alcoholic patients
Author(s) -
POYNARD THIERRY,
MARCELLIN PATRICK,
WANDS JACK,
NAVEAU SYLVIE,
DUBREUIL PASCAL,
PILLOT JACQUES,
CHAPUT JEANCLAUDE
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1746.1988.tb00231.x
Subject(s) - medicine , radioimmunoassay , hbsag , cirrhosis , alcoholic liver disease , gastroenterology , hepatitis b virus , hepatitis b , monoclonal antibody , pathogenesis , monoclonal , antibody , virus , immunology
The presence of HBV infection has been retrospectively assessed using monoclonal radioimmunoassay (M‐RIA) in the sera of 269 alcoholics. There were three subjects with normal liver, 92 had steatosis, 32 had fibrosis, 15 had acute alcoholic steatosis and 127 had cirrhosis. The HBsAg M‐RIA was performed by the sandwich method using high affinity IgG and IgM monoclonal antibodies. The M‐RIA was more sensitive for detection of HBV when compared with conventional RIA, the former detecting 15 out of 269, the latter detecting five out of 269 (5.6% and 1.9% respectively; P = 0.02). Among the 264 patients negative for conventional RIA, the prevalence of a positive M‐RIA test was no different between patients who lacked HBV related antibodies (seven out of 196; 3.6%) compared with patients with at least one antibody (three out of 68; 4.4%). The prevalence of HBsAg detected by M‐RIA was higher in alcoholic patients with cirrhosis (9.4%) compared with patients without cirrhosis (2.1%; P < 0.01). These results suggest that all alcoholic patients could have a low production, or an abnormal expression, of HBV or could be infected by an hepatitis B variant virus. HBV or an hepatitis B variant virus could have in some cases a causative role in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis.