Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of receptors for polymerized human serum albumin on hepatitis B surface antigen particles.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect the polymerized human serum albumin (pHSA) receptor on hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) particles. The receptor values on particles from HBeAg-positive patients were significantly higher than those from anti-HBe-positive and HBeAg-, anti-HBe-negative patients. In patients' sera with moderate to high receptor values, there was significant correlation between the values obtained in the ELISA and serum DNA-polymerase activity (P less than 0.005), but not with HBeAg titer. During a 1-year follow-up of 47 HBeAg-positive patients with chronic hepatitis, termination of active viral replication, as evidenced by seroconversion from HBeAg to anti-HBe-positive, was observed in 1 of 26 with high initial receptor values, 2 of 12 with moderately high values and 6 of 9 with low receptor values. The results suggest that the ELISA described, which detects pHSA receptors on HBsAg particles, might be of value as a prognostic test in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis type B.