Serum pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens as prognostic markers in interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis B.
We investigated the changes of serum pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens before and after interferon therapy in 35 carriers with HBeAg, to examine their clinical significance in the therapy. Both antigens were measured quantitatively by solid-phase enzyme immunoassays using monoclonal antibodies specific to each antigen. The titers of these antigens of responders before therapy were significantly lower (p less than 0.001) than those of non-responders (6.23 +/- 1.09 versus 8.65 +/- 2.09 and 4.46 +/- 1.27 versus 6.50 +/- 1.50, respectively). The titers decreased significantly 6 months after interferon therapy in the responders (p less than 0.05), whereas they did not change in the non-responders. Our findings indicate that pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens have a close correlation with hepatitis B virus replication and are valuable markers for predicting the responsiveness to interferon therapy.
Haruna
Y
Y
First Dept. of Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.
Hayashi
N
N
Yuki
N
N
Kasahara
A
A
Fusamoto
H
H
Kamada
T
T
D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*
D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D011498:Protein Precursors; C050806:presurface protein 1, hepatitis B surface antigen; C050807:presurface protein 2, hepatitis B surface antigen; D007372:Interferons