Hepatitis B surface antigen variants detected in a hepatitis B virus carrier with concurrent HBsAg and anti-HBs

Hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg) is neutralized by anti-HBsAg antibody(anti-HBs). However, HBsAg variants can persist in the spite of the presence of anti-HBs. Hepatitis B vaccination or hepatitis B immunoglobulin therapy is one of the situations that can drive the selection of variants. Thus selection of most variants is likely to be immune-driven. On the other hand, there are also naturally occurring variants, but the mechanism of their emergence has not been clarified. Here we descride a hepatitis B virus(HBV) carrier with concurrent HBsAg and anti-HBs in whom several amino acid substitution was found in the major hydrophilic region of HBsAg. This case provides a discussion that concurrence of HBsAg and anti-HBs may drive selection of HBsAg variants.

HBs抗原

HBs抗原変異株

B型肝炎

本文データは山口大学医学会の許諾に基づきCiNiiから複製したものである