Übersicht

Abstract

Detection of IgM antibody against hepatitis B virus (HBV) core protein is used for laboratory diagnosis of acute hepatitis B and for follow-up of chronic hepatitis B. Actually, sensitive enzyme immunoassays (EIA) which permit the detection of low anti-HBc-lgM activity in serum (10 IU/ml) have been developed. Differentiation of acute from chronic infection or HBV reaction is possible in more than 90% of the cases by quantitative detection of anti-HBc-lgM with these immunoassays. Anti-HBc-lgM and viral DNA detection are prognostic markers for therapy of chronic hepatitis B infection. Nevertheless, the correlation between anti-HBc-lgM and viral replication is still unclear. For therapy monitoring the performance of quantitative HBV DNA and HBsAg detection and qualitative HBeAg determination in monthly intervals should be recommended. A further application of anti-HBc-lgM dection is the resolution of unusual serological profiles, i.e. HBsAg negative acute hepatitis B or isolated anti-HBc seropositivity. © 1996, Walter de Gruyter. All rights reserved.