title: [Epitopes of the envelope of the hepatitis B virus: a structural approach].
abstract: Hepatitis B is a major public health problem. More than 300 million people are chronically infected by the virus. During infection very large quantities of complete virions and empty envelopes, consisting of spherical or filamentous lipoprotein particles, are present in the blood. DNA genome coding for envelopes is divided into three domains, preS1, preS2 and S. All available data suggest that the preS1 and preS2 products are exposed at the surface of the virions. These proteins are more immunogenic than S in terms of in vivo antibody response and the number of epitopes identified. The three dimensional mapping of antigenic sites of the HBV will provide important strategic information for vaccine development and identification of targets for immunorecognition or immunoregulation of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Immunologie Structurale, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lema
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vulliez-Le Normand
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saul
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bentley
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lecroisey
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delepierre
mesh_terms: D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins