1987 Volume 84 Issue 4 Pages 894-903
Double filtration plasmapheresis (DFP) was performed in 13 cases of chronic hepatitis type B (HBeAg positive: 9 cases, HBeAg negative: 4 cases) in order to decrease serum HBsAg and HBV which may act as inhibitors for host immune response. In HBeAg positive cases elevation of serum GPT was obserbed after DFP and subsequently serum DNA-p activity became negative in 2 cases: in one of them serum HBeAg became negative, and decreased remarkably in the other. Moreover a remarkable increase of serum HBV related antigens and DNA-p activity was obserbed after DFP, especially in cases with relatively low DNA-p activity. On the other hand such changes were not obserbed in HBeAg negative cases.
These data suggest that DFP treatment for HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis type B may induce HBV replication and improve host immune response. Application of DFP to immunotherapy in chronic hepatitis type B will be a useful clinical method.