title: Complexes between HBsAg and IgM in serum of patients with acute hepatitis.
abstract: HBsAg bound to IgM was measured in the serum of HBsAg carriers with acute hepatitis using a radioimmunoassay based on selective absorption of IgM on solid phase coated with antiserum to human IgM. HBsAg/IgM was detected in 94 (100%) patients with acute type B hepatitis during the acute phase of infection and persisted after the fourth week only in 13 of them, who developed chronic liver disease. HBsAg/IgM was detected only in 1 patient out of 15 carriers of the HBsAg with superimposed non-B hepatitis. No activity was found in serum of 20 patients with acute HBsAg-negative hepatitis. The nature of the IgM component of the complex is uncertain, however, blocking experiments of the HBsAg/IgM reaction with polymerized human albumin suggest that the IgM component of the complex might represent antibody to the denatured protein. Persistent HBsAg/IgM complex detection in patients with acute type B hepatitis provides a useful tool to predict transition of HBV infection to chronicity. Its absence in patients with acute HBsAg-positive hepatitis is indicative of non-B hepatitis in chronic carriers of the HBsAg.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex / Q000032:analysis*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000276:immunology*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D007075:Immunoglobulin M