The HBe antigen-antibody system and its relationship to clinical and laboratory findings in 100 chronic HBsAg carriers in Great Britain.

HBeAg or anti HBe were detected using radioimmunoassay in 93 out of 100 British patients who were chronic HBsAg carriers. HBeAg was found more commonly than anti HBe in younger patients and those with higher titres of HbsAg and abnormal liver function tests. HBeAg was present particularly in patients with chronic active hepatitis (26 out of 29) and chronic persistent hepatitis (16 out of 21). Anti HBe was found particularly in healthy carriers (19 out of 27), and patients with cirrhosis (4 out of 8) and hepatocellular carcinoma (7 out of 8). However, the system was of little help in predicting the liver biopsy appearances in the individual patient. During a mean follow-up period of 44 months, 6 of the 62 (9.7%) HBeAg positive carriers converted to anti HBe, a spontaneous seroconversion rate of 2.68% per year.