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The typical seroconversion timecourse for hepatitis B. Seroconversion plays a major role in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis B infections. [60] As in other viral infections, seropositivity indicates that an individual has a sufficiently high concentration of antibody or antigen in the blood to be detectable by standard techniques.
HBsAg (hepatitis B surface antigen) was the first hepatitis B virus protein to be discovered. [15] It consists of small (S), medium (M) and large (L) protein. [16] HBcAg (hepatitis B core antigen) is the main structural protein of HBV icosahedral nucleocapsid and it has function in replication of the virus. [17]
Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) that affects the liver; [1] [6] it is a type of viral hepatitis. [7] It can cause both acute and chronic infection. [1] Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection.
HBcAg (core antigen) is a hepatitis B viral protein. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It is an indicator of active viral replication; this means the person infected with Hepatitis B can likely transmit the virus on to another person (i.e. the person is infectious).
Patients who developed antibodies against HBsAg (anti-HBsAg seroconversion) are usually considered non-infectious. HBsAg detection by immunoassay is used in blood screening, to establish a diagnosis of hepatitis B infection in the clinical setting (in combination with other disease markers) and to monitor antiviral treatment.
Liver biopsy is often required for the diagnosis of a liver problem (jaundice, abnormal blood tests) where blood tests, such as hepatitis A serology, have not been able to identify a cause. It is also required if hepatitis is possibly the result of medication , but the exact nature of the reaction is unclear.
A precore mutant is a variety of hepatitis B virus that does not produce hepatitis B virus e antigen (HBeAg). [1] These mutants are important because infections caused by these viruses are difficult to treat, [ 2 ] and can cause infections of prolonged duration and with a higher risk of liver cirrhosis. [ 3 ]
The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) polymerase is a multifunctional enzyme, with both RNA-dependent and DNA-dependent polymerase functions, as well as an RNase H function. It acts on the HBV pre-genomic RNA (pgRNA) to reverse transcribe it to form a new rcDNA molecule within a new capsid.