Correlation of the Hepatitis B Surface and E Antigens

Abstract

To the Editor: Hepatitis B virus infections are identified by presence of specific markers, such as surface antigen/antibody (HBsAg/anti-HBs), core antigen/antibody (HBcAg/anti-HBc) and particularly e antigen/antibody (HBeAg/anti-HBe) and DNA-polymerase. HBeAg, a high Dane-particle count and high DNA-polymerase activity tend to be associated with high infectivity.¹ However, the clinical utility of analyses of HBeAg and anti-HBe has been limited by the lack of standardized reagents or better assay systems than immunodiffusion.The notion that the quantity of HBsAg and HBeAg in serum may reflect virulence of hepatitis B virus infection² has gained support from recent data of Stevens et al. . . .