Subspecificities of the Australia Antigen Complex FREE

George L. Le Bouvier, MD

Reprint requests to Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 College St, New Haven, Conn 06510 (Dr. Le Bouvier).

Am J Dis Child. 1972;123(4):420-424. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1972.02110100152059.

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ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT | REFERENCES

Australia (Au) antigen,¹ also known as serum hepatitis (SH) antigen and hepatitis-associated antigen (HAA), appears in the serum during infection with the agent, or one of the agents, of long-incubation (type B) hepatitis.^2,3 Australia antigen is carried on characteristic spherical and tubular particles 20 nm in diameter,⁴ which are most probably fragments of a viral lipoprotein envelope, related in structure and antigenic specificity to the outer coat of the relatively infrequent 42-nm viruslike particles seen in certain Au-antigen-positive (Au+) sera.⁵ Whether or not these larger particles represent the actual "hepatovirions" is a matter of continuing debate.

Repeated indications over the past two years suggest that Au antigen is not a single simple entity, and that anti-Au antisera may contain antibody molecules of different specificities. Levene and Blumberg were the first to study these reactions⁶: they described a common antigenic specificity, "a," shared Au+ sera; and two additional, apparently allternative, specificities,

REFERENCES

ABSTRACT | REFERENCES

Blumberg BS, Alter HJ, Visnich S: A "new" antigen in leukemia sera . JAMA 191:541-546, 1965;.

Prince AM: An antigen detected in the blood during the incubation period of serum hepatitis . Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 60:814-821, 1968;.

Giles JP, McCollum RW, Berndtson LW Jr, et al: Relation of Australia/SH antigen to the Willowbrook MS-2 strain . New Eng J Med 281:119-122, 1969;.

Bayer ME, Blumberg BS, Werner B: Particles associated with Australia antigen in the sera of patients with leukemia, Down's syndrome and hepatitis . Nature 318:1057-1059, 1968;.

Dane DS, Cameron CH, Briggs M: Virus-like particles in the serum of patients with Australia-antigen-associated hepatitis . Lancet 1:695-698, 1970;.

Levene C, Blumberg BS: Additional specificities of Australia antigen and the possible identification of hepatitis carriers . Nature 221:195-196, 1969;.

Le Bouvier GL: The heterogeneity of Australia antigen . J Infect Dis 123:671-675, 1971;.

Kim CY, Tilles JG: Immunologic and electrophoretic heterogeneity of hepatitisassociated antigen . J Infect Dis 123:618-628, 1971;.

Le Bouvier GL, McCollum RW: Australia (hepatitis-associated) antigen: Physicochemical and immunological characteristics . Adv Virus Res 16:357-396, 1970;.

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