Pontisso P, Chemello L, Fattovich G, Alberti A, Realdi G, Brechot C
J Med Virol. 1985 Oct;17(2):145-52. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1890170207.
The expression of hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) in serum and in hepatocytes was evaluated in relation to HBV replication. Fifty chronic HBsAg carriers with histological evidence of liver disease were studied, including 24 HBeAg-positive patients, 2 HBeAg/anti-HBe-negative patients, and 24 anti-HBe-positive cases, two of them with evidence of delta agent infection. Serum HBV-DNA was evaluated in all patients and related to HBcAg examined at the same time in frozen liver biopsies by immunofluorescence and to HBcAg detected in the corresponding serum by a recently developed radioimmunoassay. HBV-DNA was present in serum in 20 (83%) HBeAg-positive patients, all positive for serum HBeAg, whereas liver core antigen was detected in 14 (73%) of 19 cases. Among HBeAg-negative patients, 50% showed the presence of circulating DNA viral sequences, and HBcAg was identified in five of 26 (19%) cases in serum and in six of 24 (25%) in the liver respectively. In 15 patients, liver fragments permitted examination in parallel by immunofluorescence for HBcAg and molecular hybridization for viral DNA in liver cells. A DNA pattern characteristic of viral replication was found in cases with evidence of active virion production, independently from HBeAg and anti-HBe, and in these patients HBcAg was present both in serum and in hepatocytes. In two cases with free HBV-DNA, without evidence of replicative activity, core antigen was not detected in the liver, but in one patient HBcAg was found in the serum. A similar finding was also noted in another patient, in whom the hybridization pattern was consistent with integration of viral genome into high-molecular-weight cellular DNA. Whether serum HBcAg detected in these patients without HBV-DNA in serum reflects the presence of defective viral particles or of core antigen released as a viral protein remains to be determined.
对血清和肝细胞中乙肝核心抗原（HBcAg）的表达与乙肝病毒（HBV）复制的关系进行了评估。研究了50例有肝病组织学证据的慢性HBsAg携带者，包括24例HBeAg阳性患者、2例HBeAg/抗-HBe阴性患者和24例抗-HBe阳性病例，其中2例有δ因子感染证据。对所有患者的血清HBV-DNA进行了评估，并将其与通过免疫荧光法在冷冻肝活检组织中同时检测的HBcAg以及通过最近开发的放射免疫分析法在相应血清中检测的HBcAg相关联。20例（83%）HBeAg阳性患者血清中存在HBV-DNA，所有患者血清HBeAg均为阳性，而在19例中的14例（73%）检测到肝核心抗原。在HBeAg阴性患者中，50%显示存在循环DNA病毒序列，HBcAg分别在26例中的5例（19%）血清中和24例中的6例（25%）肝脏中被鉴定出来。15例患者的肝组织切片可同时通过免疫荧光法检测HBcAg以及通过分子杂交法检测肝细胞中的病毒DNA。在有活跃病毒体产生证据的病例中发现了病毒复制特征性的DNA模式，与HBeAg和抗-HBe无关，在这些患者中，血清和肝细胞中均存在HBcAg。在2例有游离HBV-DNA但无复制活性证据的病例中，肝脏中未检测到核心抗原，但1例患者血清中发现了HBcAg。在另1例患者中也观察到了类似发现，其杂交模式与病毒基因组整合到高分子量细胞DNA中一致。这些血清中无HBV-DNA的患者中检测到的血清HBcAg是否反映了缺陷病毒颗粒的存在或作为病毒蛋白释放的核心抗原的存在，仍有待确定。
