Abstract
A HBx-specific mouse monoclonal antibody was developed and its epitope mapped to a hydrophilic segment 94HKRTLGL100 using the multipin peptide synthesis technique. A sensitive ELISA with a threshold of 5 to 10 ng was developed to identify the HBx-positive hepatitis B cases and measure the levels of HBx in sera. The same patient sera were also analyzed for the presence of anti-HBx using the purified recombinant antigen. HBx was present in 23% of the cases (15/65) whereas only 14% of the cases (9/65) were positive for anti-HBx. The mean value of HBx in acute hepatitis sera was higher (522 ng/ml) than in cirrhosis cases (48 ng/ml). PCR amplification of the S gene showed that all 15 HBx-positive cases were also positive for the viral DNA.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Antibodies, Monoclonal / biosynthesis
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Antibodies, Monoclonal / immunology*
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Antibodies, Viral / blood*
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Antibody Specificity
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Antigens, Viral / blood
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Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
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Epitope Mapping*
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Hepatitis B / blood
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Hepatitis B / diagnosis*
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Hepatitis B / immunology
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Hepatitis B virus / immunology*
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Humans
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Hybridomas / immunology
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Immunoenzyme Techniques
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Liver Cirrhosis / blood
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Liver Cirrhosis / immunology
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Mice
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Mice, Inbred BALB C
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Trans-Activators / blood*
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Trans-Activators / immunology*
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Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins
Substances
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Antibodies, Monoclonal
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Antibodies, Viral
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Antigens, Viral
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Trans-Activators
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Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins
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hepatitis B virus X protein