Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has many faces. Precore and core promoter
mutants resemble inactive carrier status. The identification of hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) in
hepatocytes may have variable clinical significance. The present study was undertaken to detect
HBcAg in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and to assess the efficacy of detection system by indirect
immunofluorescence (IIF) and indirect immunoperoxidase (IIP).
Materials and methods: The study was done in 70 chronic HBV-infected patients. Out of 70
patients, eight (11.4%) were hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) positive and 62 (88.57%) were HBeAg
negative. Hepatitis B core antigen was detected by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) and indirect
immunoperoxidase (IIP) methods in liver tissue.
Results: All HBeAg positive patients expressed HBcAg by both IIF and IIP methods. Out of 62
patients with HBeAg-negative CHB, HBcAg was detected by IIF in 55 (88.7%) patients and by IIP
in 51 (82.26%) patients. A positive relation among viral load and HBcAg detection was also found.
This was more evident in the case of HBeAg negative patients and showed a positive relation with
HBV DNA levels.
Conclusion: Hepatitis B core antigen can be detected using the IIF from formalin fixed paraffin block
preparation and also by IIP method. This seems to reflect the magnitudes of HBV replication in CHB.