Hepatitis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Hepatitis, including details on hepatitis a, b, c, causes, symptoms.

Immune suppression as the etiology of failure to detect anti-HBc antibodies in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

Avettand-Fenoel V, Thabut D, Katlama C, Poynard T, Thibault V

Virology Department, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.

A lack of anti-HBc antibodies during chronic hepatitis B virus infection is a serological pattern that is rarely observed. In our series of 39 patients with such a confirmed profile, mutations within the precore/core gene were rarely found and the lack of antibody detection was mostly explained by concurrent immunosuppression and the low sensitivities of the serological assays.

Published 7 June 2006 in J Clin Microbiol, 44(6): 2250-3.
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