Significance of isolated anti-HBc seropositivity by ELISA: implications and the role of radioimmunoassay.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody to HBsAg (anti-HBs) are excellent markers for HBV infection and its immunity. The significance of isolated antibody to HBV core antigen (anti-HBc) seropositivity is not certain. To elucidate this, sera from 638 Chinese adult subjects, aged 18-52 years, seronegative for both HBsAg and anti-HBs, were tested for anti-HBc. Fifty-one (8%) were found to have an isolated anti-HBc seropositivity by ELISA, and all were negative for IgM-anti-HBc. The anti-HBc persisted in all subjects who attended follow-up for hepatitis B vaccination (n = 48) for a period of 8 months. These 48 subjects received 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine (HB-VAX, 10 micrograms or 20 micrograms) at 0, 1, and 6 months: 72.9% developed a primary anti-HBs response (suggestive of a false-positive anti-HBc seropositivity), 4.2% developed an anamnestic or secondary anti-HBs response, and 22.9% did not develop an anti-HBs response. Increasing the cutoff point of the ELISA or reconfirmation with radioimmunoassay (RIA) reduced only a minor half of the false positives. This low specificity of anti-HBc ELISA/RIA, together with the high rate of anti-HBs response to hepatitis B vaccine, indicates that subjects with isolated anti-HBc seropositivity should be included in vaccination programs.