Study of antibody to hepatitis-B virus core antigen (anti-HBc) in chronic diffuse liver disease.

The sera of 211 patients with histological evidence of chronic diffuse liver disease were studied for antibody to hepatitis-B virus core antigen (anti-HBc), hepatitis-B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody to the latter antigen (anti-HBs) by radioimmunoassay, using Abbott-RIA kits. The frequency of anti-HBc-positivity was found to be six times as high as HBsAg-positivity and twice as high as anti-HBs-positivity. In 20 of the patients with chronic liver disease the anti-HBc-positivity was the only indicator of past infection with HB-virus. The detection-rate of HB-viral infection provided by the highly sensitive radioimmunoassays was 59 per cent in liver cirrhosis of 45 per cent in chronic hepatitis, 26 per cent in fatty degeneration of the liver. Anti-HBc having been found to be the most sensitive indicator of HB-viral infection, the importance of its assay is therefore emphasized.