Chang0es of serum pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens in chronic hepatitis B by interferon therapy

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between pre-S Ag titers and the prognosis of 25 chronic hepatitis B patients with IFN therapy. Before IFN therapy, pre-S1 Ag and pre-S2 Ag titers of responders were 6.23 ±1.09 and 4.46 ±1.27. Those of nonresponders were 8.00 ±2.17 and 5.83 ±1.40, respectively. Both titers of the responders were significantly lower than those of the nonresponders. Furthermore, pre-S Ag titers had remained high or become high 3 months before HBeAg turned positive again. These observations suggest that the titers of pre-S1 Ag and pre-S2 Ag may be useful to predict the prognosis of patients with IFN therapy.