Isolated antibody to hepatitis B core antigen in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

AIM： To evaluate the prevalence of isolated anti-HBc in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus （HCV） infection, and its relation to disease severity. METHODS： We screened all patients with chronic HCV infection referred to King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center for hepatitis B surface antigen （HBsAg）, antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen （anti- HBs）, and anti-HBc. One hundred and sixty nine patients who tested negative for both HBsAg and anti-HBs were included in this study. RESULTS： Pathologically, 59 had biopsy-proven cirrhosis and 110 had chronic active hepatitis （CAH）. Of these 169 patients, 85 （50.3%） tested positive for anti-HBc. Patients with CAH had significantly higher prevalence of isolated anti-HBc than patients with cirrhosis, 71 （6d.5%） and 14 （23.7%） respectively （P 〈 0.001）. Twenty-five patients were tested for HBV DNA by qualitative PCR. The test was positive in 3 of them （12%; occult HBV infection）. CONCLUSION： Isolated anti-HBc alone is common in Saudi patients with chronic HCV infection, and is significantly more common in those with CAH than those with cirrhosis. Therefore, a screening strategy that only tests for HBsAg and anti-HBs in these patients will miss a large number of individuals with isolated anti-HBc, who may be potentially infectious.

瞄准：与长期的丙肝在病人评估孤立的 anti-HBc 的流行病毒(HCV ) 感染，和它与疾病严厉的关系。方法：我们屏蔽了所有病人，长期的 HCV 感染指了肝炎 B 表面抗原(HBsAg ) 的法萨尔国王专家医院和研究中心，到肝炎 B 表面抗原(anti-HBs ) 的抗体，和 anti-HBc。为 HBsAg 和 anti-HBs 测试了 negative 的一百和 69 个病人在这研究被包括。结果：病理地， 59 有证明活体检视的肝硬化和 110 有的长期的活跃肝炎(CAH ) 。这 169 个病人，(50.3%) 85 测试了为 anti-HBc 积极。有 CAH 的病人与肝硬化比病人有孤立的 anti-HBc 的显著地更高的流行， 71 (64.5%) 并且 14 (23.7%) 分别地(P < 0.001 ) 。25 个病人被质的 PCR 为 HBV DNA 测试。测试在他们中的 3 个是阳性的(12% ；秘密 HBV 感染) 。结论：孤立的 anti-HBc 独自在有长期的 HCV 感染的沙特阿拉伯的病人是普通的，并且是显著地在那些更普通与 CAH 比那些与肝硬化。因此，仅仅在这些病人为 HBsAg 和 anti-HBs 测试的屏蔽策略将错过可能潜在地传染的有孤立的 anti-HBc 的很多个人。