Dienstag J L, Schulman A N, Gerety R J, Hoofnagle J H, Lorenz D E, Purcell R H, Barker L F
J Immunol. 1976 Sep;117(3):876-81.
Morphologically similar hepatitis A antigen particles (HA Ag)3 have been detected in the stools of patients with type A hepatitis and in the livers of marmosets experimentally infected with hepatitis A virus. To investigate the humoral antibody responses to these antigens and to compare the immunologic properties of HA Ag from these two sources, we immunized guinea pigs with either marmoset liver-derived HA Ag or with human stool-derived HA Ag in complete Freund's adjuvant and measured their antibody responses by immune electron microscopy (IEM) and immune adherence hemagglutination (IAHA). Antibodies reacting with both hepatitis A antigens were elicited in both groups. As determined by IEM, no distinction was seen between the reaction of guinea pig antiserum to each HA Ag tested under code when reacted against either liver-derived or stool-derived HA Ag. Antibodies elicited to marmoset liver-derived HA Ag and human stool-derived HA Ag had similar end point dilution titers by IAHA when tested against either "light" density (1.34 g/cm3) or "heavy" density (1.40 g/cm3) stool-derived HA Ag or liver-derived HA Ag. Low levels of antibody to normal liver or stool control antigens were observed transiently but did not obscure the specific response to HA Ag. These data suggest that morphologically similar HA Ag particles from different sources and with different densities are immunologically similar and may be identical. In contrast to the heterogeneity of surface antigens of hepatitis B virus, the comparable immunogenicity and apparent antigenic homogeneity of HA Ags derived from various sources may simplify the approach to development of a vaccine against viral hepatitis, type A.
在甲型肝炎患者的粪便以及实验感染甲型肝炎病毒的狨猴肝脏中，已检测到形态学上相似的甲型肝炎抗原颗粒（HA Ag）。为了研究针对这些抗原的体液抗体反应，并比较来自这两种来源的HA Ag的免疫特性，我们用完全弗氏佐剂中的狨猴肝脏来源的HA Ag或人粪便来源的HA Ag免疫豚鼠，并通过免疫电镜（IEM）和免疫黏附血凝试验（IAHA）测量它们的抗体反应。两组均诱导出了与两种甲型肝炎抗原发生反应的抗体。通过IEM测定，当豚鼠抗血清与编码测试的每种HA Ag反应时，无论针对肝脏来源还是粪便来源的HA Ag，均未发现差异。当用IAHA针对“轻”密度（1.34 g/cm³）或“重”密度（1.40 g/cm³）的粪便来源的HA Ag或肝脏来源的HA Ag进行测试时，诱导出的针对狨猴肝脏来源的HA Ag和人粪便来源的HA Ag的抗体具有相似的终点稀释滴度。短暂观察到对正常肝脏或粪便对照抗原的低水平抗体，但并未掩盖对HA Ag的特异性反应。这些数据表明，来自不同来源且密度不同的形态学上相似的HA Ag颗粒在免疫学上相似，可能是相同的。与乙型肝炎病毒表面抗原的异质性相反，来自各种来源的HA Ags具有可比的免疫原性和明显的抗原同质性，这可能会简化甲型病毒性肝炎疫苗的研发方法。
