[Immune response and B hepatitis (author's transl)].

The different forms of chronic hepatitis are due to different individual immune responses after infection with hepatitis B virus. A report is given about specific and unspecific defense mechanisms coming into play after infection, about immunological and immunopathological reactions, and about the pathogenetic significance of these processes. At present unfortunately our knowledge in this particular field is rather limited; more detailed information is needed about humoral, cellular, immune complex related, and autoimmunological events, if one wishes to explain the different courses of hepatitis on these grounds.