Quantitation of anti-HBe antibodies in anti-HBc-positive liver donors

There is increasing interest in quantitatively determining the presence of antibodies to hepatitis B virus (HBV) antigens both in patients with overt HBV infection and in those with occult HBV infection.1,2 Recently, we studied a cohort of 100 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative/anti-HBc-positive liver donors and found that levels of anti-HBc of IgG class above a 4.4 cut-off index (COI) correlated with the finding of intrahepatic HBV covalently closed circular (ccc) DNA, providing a novel potential tool to identify individuals with occult HBV infection (OBI) at increased risk of HBV reactivation following pharmacological immunosuppression.
Source: Journal of Hepatology - Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research