title: e-Antigen: a link between immune response and infectivity in hepatitis B?
abstract: In a study of the distribution of e-antigen and anti-e in subjects whose blood was positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), patients with acute hepatitis B who were tested during the incubation period were all e-antigen-positive but after the onset of illness e-antigen was detected in only 11%. Persistence, and in some instances reappearance of e-antigen in those who became long-term carriers of HBsAg was associated with high titres of HBsAg. There was a high incidence of e-antigen in those conditions in which cell-mediated immunity may be depressed, including Down's syndrome and chronic renal failure. The majority of HBsAg carries identified as sources of infection were e-antigen-positive. A postive reaction for e-antigen is evidently associated with a defective immune response to hepatitis B virus infection which permits continued replication of virus in liver cells accompanied by high titres of HBsAg, numerous Dane particles and detectable DNA polymerase in the blood with consequently a greater likelihood of transmitting infection. Although it cannot be assumed that anti-e positive carriers of HBsAg are not infective, it may be necessary, in the assessment of passive or active immunization for the control of hepatitis B, to take into account the e-antigen/antibody status of possible sources of infection.
mesh_terms: D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000635:transmission; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007110:Immunity, Active; D007112:Immunity, Maternally-Acquired
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase