title: Detection of antibodies against DNA polymerase of hepatitis B virus in HBsAg-positive sera using ELISA.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  DNA polymerase (pol) of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) includes 3 different domains such as terminal protein (TP), reverse transcriptase (RT) and RNase H. Humoral immune responses to each of these proteins have not been well documented previously, although antibody to pol was detected in serum of patients with chronic hepatitis B. We have constructed TP (amino acids 1-182), RT (amino acids 346-685) and RNase H (amino acids 690-832).
  
  
  METHODS
  By ELISA using each protein expressed in E. coli as antigens, the corresponding antibodies were tested in serum from 40 patients with type B viral chronic liver diseases. (20 HBeAg-positive and 20 HBeAg-negative). As negative controls, sera from 3 healthy young men were used. With the mean values of the OD, which were tested 4 times per each test sample and 3 times per each control sample, we considered to be positive if the mean OD of each test sample is 2-fold or higher than that of controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five of 40 sera (12.5%) contained one or two different antibodies detectable by this method: 4 of 20 HbeAg-positive sera (20%) and 1 of 20 HbeAg-negative sera (5%). Anti-TP, anti-RT and anti-RNase H antibodies were detected in 2.5% (1/40), 10% (4/40) and 7.5% (3/40), respectively. Among 4/20 HbeAg-positive ELISA-positive sera, anti-TP, anti-RT and anti-RNase H were positive in 5% (1/20), 20% (4/20) and 10% (2/20), respectively, while 1 HBeAg-negative ELISA-positive sera were positive only for anti-RNase H.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the corresponding antibody responses to individual recombinant peptides derived from 3 domains of DNA polymerase may tend to be detected more frequently in HBeAg-positive sera than in HBeAg-negative sera from various patients with type B viral chronic liver diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology Education, Seoul National University, Korea.
authors.forename: L X
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Rui
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jung
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000032:analysis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D004257:DNA Polymerase II / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear; D015415:Biomarkers; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D004257:DNA Polymerase II