Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 55, 117-121, 2002

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Original Article

Effect of Ethanol on Antigenicity of Hepatitis B Virus Envelope Proteins

Kenji Ito1, Takumi Kajiura2* and Kenji Abe3

1Department of Research and Development,@Yoshida Pharmaceutical@Co., Ltd., Chuo 5-1-10, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0011, 2Microbiological Research Unit, Department of Research and Development, Yoshida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Minamiiriso 951, Sayama-shi, Saitama 350-1316 and 3Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan

(Received June 24, 2002. Accepted August 13, 2002)

SUMMARY: Hepatitis B e antigen-positive human serum was treated with 50 - 90% ethanol at room temperature for 1 - 60 min, then the antigenicity of S antigen (hepatitis B surface antigen, in a narrow sense) was determined by radioimmunoassay and the antigenicities of pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens were measured by enzyme immunoassay. In addition, hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in the treated serum was detected by polymerase chain reaction. All antigenicities markedly decreased within 60 min at an ethanol concentration of 70 - 80%, and the decrease was faster in pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens than in S antigen. Although HBV DNA remained in all ethanol-treated serum samples, no HBV DNA was detected after treatment with 1% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min. Based on the results, we speculate that one mechanism of loss of HBV infectivity by ethanol is the inhibition of virus binding to hepatocytes.


*Corresponding author: Tel: +81-42-957-2346, Fax: +81-24-957-7698, E-mail: kajiura@yoshida-pharm.co.jp


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