A novel assay for hepatitis B e markers.

The evaluation of a novel assay that allows simultaneous testing for hepatitis B e antigen and its antibody in a single well is described. The results of routine application and sequential studies on patients with acute hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon are presented. The specificity and sensitivity of the assay and its ability to be used to follow the response of a patient during the whole seroconversion episode has been evaluated. The assay proved to give useful information about the reactivity of the sample, especially in those patients who were changing their "e" status.