Weimer T, Weimer K, Tu Z X, Jung M C, Pape G R, Will H
Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Martinsried, Federal Republic of Germany.
J Immunol. 1989 Dec 1;143(11):3750-6.
The frequency and specificity of antibodies to P-gene encoded proteins of human hepatitis B virus was tested in sera of acute and chronically infected patients with and without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). For antibody detection an immunoprecipitation gel assay was performed with radioactively labeled polypeptides produced by in vitro translation of RNA of different P-gene regions. Thus, five antigenic regions were identified. All anti-P antibody positive sera reacted with carboxy-terminal P-poly-peptides, a subset with polypeptides of the amino-terminal and middle region, and none reacted with P-protein derived from the most sequence variable region. Anti-P antibodies were detected at very high frequency in sera of acute (73%) and chronically infected patients without HCC (87%), but less often in HCC patients (27%). These data indirectly demonstrate the expression of most hepatitis B virus P-gene sequences and the immunogenicity of P-proteins in vivo. Moreover, they establish hepatitis B virus anti-P-antibodies as a frequent serologic marker of infection and identify the carboxy-terminal region of the P-protein(s) as immunodominant.
在患有和未患有肝细胞癌（HCC）的急性和慢性感染患者的血清中，检测了针对人类乙型肝炎病毒P基因编码蛋白的抗体频率和特异性。为了检测抗体，使用通过体外翻译不同P基因区域的RNA产生的放射性标记多肽进行免疫沉淀凝胶测定。由此确定了五个抗原区域。所有抗P抗体阳性血清均与羧基末端P多肽反应，一部分与氨基末端和中间区域的多肽反应，而无一与来自序列变化最大区域的P蛋白反应。在急性感染患者（73%）和无HCC的慢性感染患者（87%）的血清中，抗P抗体检测频率很高，但在HCC患者中较少见（27%）。这些数据间接证明了大多数乙型肝炎病毒P基因序列的表达以及P蛋白在体内的免疫原性。此外，它们确立了乙型肝炎病毒抗P抗体作为感染的常见血清学标志物，并确定了P蛋白的羧基末端区域具有免疫优势。
