Abstract
We studied 375 chronic Hemodialysis patients for evidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection using a first and newly developed second generation monoclonal radioimmunoassays (MRIA). The assay employs high affinity monoclonal Ab produced against antigenic determinants which reside on HBsAg. The assays have a lower limit of detection for HBsAg in serum of approximately 55 and 15 pg/ml respectively. We found that 14 of 375 chronic hemodialysis patients were positive for HBsAg by both polyclonal (PRIA) and MRIA. However, additional 17 were identified as harboring HBV infection only by the MRIA. Thus the MRIA improved the HBV detection rate (PRIA: 3.7 vs MRIA: 8.3%). 10 of the 17 MRIA reactive patients had HBcAb as evidence of HBV exposure. 24 out of 145 HBcAb positive patients were found to have HBsAg by MRIA. We conclude that there are hemodialysis patients with HBV infection not detected by conventional polyclonal radioimmunoassays.
