Host Responses to Hepatitis B Infection: Hepatitis B Surface Antigen and Host Proteins

  1. BARBARA WERNER, PH.D.; and
  2. W. THOMAS LONDON, M.D., F.A.C.P.
  1. The Institute for Cancer Research, Fox Chase Cancer Center,
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Excerpt

    An intriguing feature of infection with the agent that causes hepatitis B in man is the great variation in host response. The Dane particle, which is 45 nm in diameter and contains an internal core with antigenic specificity (HBcAg) and an outer surface component that is also antigenic (HBsAg, Australia antigen), is presumed to be the infectious virion of hepatitis B (HBV). The host response to HBV ranges from clinically inapparent infections to acute, chronic, and fulminant hepatitis. When infected, most persons produce an excess of HBsAg, which is readily detected in their serum and is seen by electron microscopy

    This 100-word excerpt has been provided in the absence of an abstract.

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    1. Ann Intern Med July 1, 1975 vol. 83 no. 1 113-114
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