Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and its sequelae which include cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is a major public health problem throught the world.The WHO strategy for effective control of HBV infection is vaccination with the surface antigen of virus(HBsAg).The results obtained from a large number of studies demonstrated that the vaccine induces a protective antibody resonse (anti-HB...

The human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line PLC/PRF/5, which synthesizes and secretes hepatitis B surface antigen, was grown under optimal conditions in tissue culture, using Eagle's minimal essential medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 10(-11) M triiodothyronine on collagen rafts. Injection s.c. of the PLC/PRF/5 cell line into athymic BALB/c nude mice resulted in the growth of...

BACKGROUND Vaccination with the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) induces protective levels of antibody (anti-HBs = 10 IU/L) in majority of vaccinees. It has been shown that the levels of anti-HBs antibody do wane after vaccination. The aim of this study was to evaluate the persistence of anti-HBs antibodies in healthy Iranian children at 10 years after primary vaccination and the response to...

One hundred and sixty three cases of sporadic acute viral hepatitis were included in this study. Clinical diagnosis in all cases was supported by laboratory evidence of hepatocellular necrosis (AST/ALT levels 2.5 times the upper limit of normal). Sera collected in acute phase and stored at -20°C were analysed for various seromarkers of hepatitis using radioimmunoassay technique (Abbott Laborato...

BACKGROUND Despite progress made in the prevention of transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI) over the last few years, they continue to be a problem in many parts of the world, particularly in multitransfused patients. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and to evaluate the screening and vaccination program amon...