Prevalence and heterogeneity of serum DNA polymerase activity in patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis and HBsAg-negative blood donors with elevated SGPT.
Serum DNA polymerase activity (DNA-P) was detected in 27.6 per cent of non-A, non-B (NANB) hepatitis patients, 8.7 per cent of patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD), 8.6 per cent of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive patients and 19.0 per cent of HBsAg-negative blood donors with elevated serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) concentrations. In contrast, none of the patients with hepatitis A, drug-induced liver injury or non-alcoholic fatty liver had DNA-P in their sera in the acute phase of the illness. All HBsAg-positive samples with detectable DNA-P were strongly positive for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA, but the samples from patients with NANB hepatitis and ALD and HBsAg-negative blood donors had no HBV DNA. Sensitivity to actinomycin D showed the heterogeneity of DNA-Ps in HBsAg-negative blood donors; the enzyme activity of one type was inhibited by 100 micrograms/ml of actinomycin D, whereas the other was not. The preference for exogenous template primers of these DNA-Ps was different to those of HBV and human retroviruses. The results reveal the prevalence of serum DNA-P in NANB hepatitis patients and suggest that two distinct agents are relevant to the aetiology of NANB hepatitis.
Watanabe
S
S
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Mie University School of Medicine, Japan.
Kano
U
U
Ito
T
T
Kakehashi
R
R
Ikoma
J
J
Murata
T
T
Suzuki
S
S
D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood*; D001782:Blood Donors; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000097:blood*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000201:enzymology
D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase