title: Detection of both hepatitis B e antigen and antibody in a single assay using monoclonal reagents.
abstract: Monoclonal antibodies raised against HBeAg were used to develop a HBeAg and anti-HBe detection assay. Monoclones containing anti-HBe were used both for the coating of the solid phase and for the fluid phase label in a sandwich type assay. The percentage binding of 125I-labelled anti-HBe to serum HBeAg was much greater than that seen in a similar assay using only polyclonal reagents. Therefore it was possible to add a small quantity of HBeAg for neutralising any anti-HBe present in a test serum without affecting HBeAg detection. This small amount of serum HBeAg was incorporated into each test sample thus allowing the determination of the e status of a patient using only one aliquot of test serum. This single test assay could be performed either as a radioimmunoassay or as an ELISA. The sensitivity of these assays was found to be greater than the conventional polyclonal assay particularly with regard to sera containing anti-HBe.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens