Antibody to hepatitis B core antigen as a screening test for occult hepatitis B virus infection in Egyptian chronic hepatitis C patients.
OBJECTIVE
The presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in liver tissue and/or in serum in the absence of detectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is called occult HBV infection. This pattern was identified in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The aim of this study was to determine the role of antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) as a screening test for occult HBV infection in Egyptian chronic HCV patients.


METHODS
One hundred chronic HCV patients negative for HBsAg were included and subdivided into two groups according to anti-HBc-IgG seroreactivity. Group A included 71 patients positive for anti-HBc (53 men and 18 women, mean age +/- SD 48.8 +/- 9.6 years), and group B included 29 patients negative for anti-HBc (18 men and 11 women, mean age +/- SD 46.6 +/- 11.7 years). All patients were subjected to full clinical assessment, routine laboratory investigations, abdominal ultrasonography and quantification of HBV-DNA by real-time PCR.


RESULTS
Chronic HCV patients positive for anti-HBc have more severe liver disease compared with anti-HBc negative patients. Although HBV-DNA in the serum was detected in 22.5% of anti-HBc-positive chronic HCV patients, it was not detected in any of anti-HBc-negative chronic HCV patients. There was no significant difference in any of the clinical and laboratory data tested between anti-HBc-positive patients with and without HBV-DNA in the serum.


CONCLUSIONS
A significant number of patients with anti-HBc had detectable levels of HBV-DNA in the serum. Egyptian chronic HCV patients have a high prevalence of occult HBV infection.
El-Sherif
Assem
A
Department of Internal Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Abou-Shady
Mohamed
M
Abou-Zeid
Hany
H
Elwassief
Ahmed
A
Elbahrawy
Ashraf
A
Ueda
Yoshihide
Y
Chiba
Tsutomu
T
Hosney
Abdel-Moneim
AM
D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D004279:DNA, Viral; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens