[Correlation between HBeAg in the blood and HBcAg in hepatocyte nuclei in hepatitis B]. / Correlazione tra HBeAg nel siero e HBcAg nei nuclei epatocitari nell'infezione da HBV.

The Authors have studied the correlation between serum HBeAg and the presence of hepatitis B "core" and "surface" antigens in liver tissue. The histological pictures of the bioptic specimens of patients affected by HBV were classified as: chronic persisting hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis and minimal aspecific changes. HBcAg was detected in liver cells nuclei in all the patients resulted positive for serum HBeAg. In some of these subjects HBsAg was found to be localized on the hepatocyte membranes, and this seems to be related in some way to the presence of HBcAg in liver nuclei. No presence of hepatitis B associated antigens was observed in biopsies from subjects who were negative for serum HbsAg.