Hepatitis B Core Antigen의 간세포내 분포 양상에 대한 연구

Abstract

Routine use of commercially available antisera against hepatitis B core antigen(HBcAg) obtained from Escherichia coli transfected with HBV-DNA, has permitted a re-evaluation of the histochemical distribution of the hepatitis B core antigen in liver tissue. HBcAg, classically described almost exclusively in the nucleus, was found with a high frequency in the cytoplasm of liver cells. Our data indicates, however, that formalin fixation and paraffin embedding destroy most of HBcAg antigenicity. With protease digestion, most of the masked HBcAg antigenicity could be recovered. HBcAg was found in 41/58(70.7%) of HBsAg/HBeAg positive subjects, and in 13/16(82.3%) of HBsAg/anti-HBe positive subjects; in both groups the cytoplasmic expression including nuclear/cytoplasmic localization of the antigen was predominant(94.4%).