Experiences with radioimmunoassay in the detection of HBsAg in the presence of anti-HBs.

Interference from anti-HBs present during hepatitis B antigenemia caused the appearance of several false negative reactions in a competition radioimmuno-precipitation procedure. The results indicate that such interference is considerably less in the solid-phase radioimmunoassay (Ausria II) and probably causes few false negative tests. The use of pepsin treatment as a means to destroy interfering antibodies is discussed.