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HUMORAL AND CELL‐MEDIATED IMMUNITY TO HEPATITIS B VIRUS ANTIGEN IN A HAEMODIALYSIS‐RENAL TRANSPLANTATION UNIT
Author(s) -
Skinhoj Peter,
Aldershvile Jan,
Hardt Finn
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
acta pathologica microbiologica scandinavica section c immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0304-1328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1977.tb03661.x
Subject(s) - antibody , medicine , transplantation , dialysis , antigen , immunology , immune system , hepatitis b , kidney transplantation , humoral immunity , immunity , virus , hepatitis b virus , virology , gastroenterology
Hepatitis B surface antigen (HB s Ag), the corresponding antibody (anti‐HB s ), the antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti‐HB c ), and the cellular immune response to purified HB s Ag (leucocyte migration inhibition test: LMT‐HB s Ag) were determined in 19 staff members, 11 long‐term haemodialysis patients, and 22 renal transplant patients in a haemodialysis‐renal transplantation unit. Past or present infection, as expressed by the presence of circulating anti‐HB s or HB s Ag, was found in 30 cases (58 per cent) (11 staff members, six dialysis patients and 13 transplant patients). Anti‐HB c was found in all the ten HB s Ag positive cases‐all patients‐and in 15 out of 20 anti‐HB s positive cases. Four staff members and seven patients had positive LMT‐HB s Ag; of these only one patient had HB s Ag, whereas seven cases had anti‐HB s . Neither the antibody determination nor the leucocyte migration inhibition assay disclosed any significant difference between patients and staff which could explain the different course of the hepatitis B virus infection in the two groups.