Hepatitis: Oh HJ

Song HJ, Kim TH, Song JH, Oh HJ, Ryu KH, Yeom HJ, Kim SE, Jung HK, Shim KN, Jung SA, Yoo K, Moon IH, Chung KW. · Department of Internal Medicine, Ewha Medical Research Institute, Ewha Womans University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. · J Korean Med Sci. · Pubmed #17449927 links to  free full text

Abstract: Vaccination against hepatitis A virus (HAV) is recommended for patients with chronic liver disease (CLD), but this has been deemed unnecessary in Korea since the immunity against HAV was almost universal in adults. However, this practice has never been reevaluated with respect to the changing incidence of adult acute hepatitis A. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 278 patients with acute hepatitis A diagnosed from January 1995 to November 2005 and prospectively tested 419 consecutive CLD patients from July to December 2005 for the presence of IgG anti-HAV. The number of patients with acute hepatitis A has markedly increased recently, and the proportion of adult patients older than 30 yr has been growing from 15.2% during 1995-1999, to 28.4% during 2000-2005 (p=0.019). Among 419 CLD patients, the seroprevalences of IgG anti-HAV were 23.1% for those between 26 and 30 yr, 64% between 31 and 35 yr, and 85.0% between 36 and 40 yr. These data demonstrate that immunity against HAV is no more universal in adult and substantial proportion of adult CLD patients are now at risk of HAV infection in Korea. Therefore, further study on seeking proper strategy of active immunization against HAV is warranted in these populations.

Yoo SJ, Oh HJ, Shin BM. · Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. · Korean J Lab Med. · Pubmed #18156763 links to  free full text

Abstract: BACKGROUND: With a technical improvement of the assay system, automated immunoassay analyzers for hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) are widely used. However, some discrepancies between assays are still being reported. We compared the qualitative and quantitative results of three kinds of anti-HBs assays. METHODS: Serum samples were collected from 517 patients and anti-HBs were determined using AxSYM AUSAB, Bayer ADVIA Centaur, and Roche Elecsys assay systems. RESULTS: The concordance rates between the three assays were 95.1% (543/571). The concordance rates were 97.7% between Centaur and Elecsys, 96.3% between AxSYM and Centaur, and 95.6% between AxSYM and Elecsys. Their correlation coefficients for quantitative results were 0.97, 0.94, and 0.93 in the same order. Twenty-eight specimens showed discrepant results, and all of them had antibody values below 31.5 mIU/mL. CONCLUSIONS: Three immunoassays for anti-HBs presented a high concordance and correlation; however, the results should be interpreted with caution, because there were still significant differences between assay methods, especially for a low-level of anti-HBs.

Yoo SJ, Oh HJ, Shin BM. · Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. · Korean J Lab Med. · Pubmed #18156739 links to  free full text

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is one of the most important serological markers used to diagnose hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Automated immunoassays have been developed, meeting the current clinical requirement of HBsAg assays over the years. This study was performed to determine the degree of agreements between 3 kinds of HBsAg assay systems. METHODS: Serum samples from 425 patients were assayed by the HBsAg assay systems of Elecsys (Roche Diagnostics, Germany), ADVIA Centaur (Bayer Diagnostics, USA), and AxSYM (Abbott Laboratories, USA). RESULTS: The concordance rates among the 3 assays were 100%. A total of 249 (58.6%) specimens were positive, and their index values showed a weak correlation between the 3 assays; nevertheless, positive specimens with low levels (<10) of index values in one system also presented low values in other systems, and all of them were confirmed by neutralization assays. CONCLUSIONS: The 3 automated HBsAg assay systems presented a high level of concordance.

Kim TH, Cho EY, Oh HJ, Choi CS, Kim JW, Moon HB, Kim HC. · Department of Internal Medicine, Wonkwang University College of Medicine, Shinyong-dong, Iksan, Korea. · J Korean Med Sci. · Pubmed #16614514 links to  free full text

Abstract: Subcellular localizaton of HBcAg have been found to be related to the activity of liver disease and HBV replication. The aim of this study was to determine whether the degree of expression of HBcAg in the hepatocyte nucleus and cytoplasm reflects the level of viral replication and histological activity in chronic HBV infection. A total of 102 patients with biopsy proven chronic hepatitis B were included. There was a highly significant correlation between the levels of HBV DNA in serum and the degree of expression of HBcAg in the nucleus for HBeAg-positive(p=0.000) and negative patients(p=0.04). There was a highly significant, correlation between the degrees of expression of HBcAg in hepatocyte cytoplasm and histologic activities (p<0.01) for HBeAg-positive patients. The degrees of expression of HBcAg in the hepatocyte cytoplasm correlated positively with the lobular activities (p<0.01), but not correlated with the portal activity and fibrosis for HBeAg-negative patients. In conclusion, in the young patients with chronic B viral hepatitis, the degree of expression of HBcAg in the hepatocyte nucleus may affect viral load, and the degree of expression of HBcAg in the hepatocyte cytoplasm may affect histologic activities of liver disease.