Significance of antibody to hepatitis Be antigen (anti-HBe) in HBsAg-negative individuals.

A study was initiated to assess the significance of antibody to hepatitis Be antigen (anti-HBe) in HBsAg-negative individuals. Anti-HBe was demonstrated in the majority of sera positive for anti-HBs and anti-HBc. All sera positive for anti-HBs and negative for anti-HBc and most sera positive for anti-HBc but negative for anti-HBs were anti-HBe-negative. This implies that the antibody response to HBeAg is of shorter duration than that to HBsAg and HBcAg. Anti-HBe may help to discriminate between various states of hepatitis B virus infection found to be associated with anti-HBc-positive but HBsAg- and anti-HBs-negative sera. 2 individuals were anti-HBe-positive but HBsAg-, anti-HBs- and anti-HBc-negative, this finding is not understood.