Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2003 Mar;69(3):313-23.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.10291.

Kinetics of HBV DNA and HBsAg in acute hepatitis B patients with and without coinfection by other hepatitis viruses

Vladimir P Chulanov  1 , German A Shipulin, Stephan Schaefer, Wolfram H Gerlich
Affiliations

Kinetics of HBV DNA and HBsAg in acute hepatitis B patients with and without coinfection by other hepatitis viruses

Vladimir P Chulanov et al. J Med Virol. 2003 Mar.

Abstract

The kinetics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and its surface antigen (HBsAg) during acute hepatitis has not yet been studied accurately in a representative number of patients. The influence of coinfecting hepatitis viruses during the acute phase of infection is not known. Three to four serum samples from 21 patients with acute HBV monoinfection and 27 with coinfection were taken at intervals of 6-10 days and analyzed for the number of HBV genome equivalents (ge) by real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and for HBsAg quantity using Laurell electrophoresis. Log HBV ge/ml decreased during the follow-up from 6.8 +/- 1.1 to 5.1 +/- 1.0 to 4.2 +/- 0.8 to 3.3 +/- 1.1 (mean +/- SD). The half-life times of HBV ge increased from 1.6 days at the beginning to 4 days at the end. HBsAg decreased much slower: from 38 to 23 to 12 to 3.8 microg/ml. Half-life time was around 8 days at the beginning and 5.7 days at the end, but 11 patients showed a rapid elimination of HBsAg and HBV DNA. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection did not change the kinetics of HBV ge and HBsAg significantly. A moderate but significant suppression of HBV ge levels was observed in hepatitis D virus (HDV) coinfected patients. HBsAg levels were, however, enhanced in this cohort. In conclusion, the data suggest that expression and elimination of HBV is in most patients with acute hepatitis B not altered by coinfecting hepatitis viruses. The initial decrease of HBV ge and HBsAg in serum appears to be caused by decay or non-specific removal in the absence of replacement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources