Koo YX, Tan DS, Tan IB, Quek R, Tao M, Lim ST. “Anti-HBc alone” in human immunodeficiency virus-positive and immuno-suppressed lymphoma patients. World J Gastroenterol 2009; 15(30): 3834-3835 [PMID: 19673031 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.15.3834]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Soon Thye Lim, MBBS, MRCP, Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Drive, Singapore 169610, Singapore. dmolst@nccs.com.sg
Article-Type of This Article
Letters To The Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 14, 2009; 15(30): 3834-3835 Published online Aug 14, 2009. doi: 10.3748/wjg.15.3834
“Anti-HBc alone” in human immunodeficiency virus-positive and immuno-suppressed lymphoma patients
Yu Xuan Koo, Daniel SW Tan, Iain BH Tan, Richard Quek, Miriam Tao, Soon Thye Lim
Yu Xuan Koo, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 10 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore
Daniel SW Tan, Iain BH Tan, Richard Quek, Miriam Tao, Soon Thye Lim, Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Drive, Singapore 169610, Singapore
Author contributions: Koo YX, Tan DSW, Tan IBH, Quek R, Tao M and Lim ST designed the research and were involved in writing the final manuscript.
Correspondence to: Dr. Soon Thye Lim, MBBS, MRCP, Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Drive, Singapore 169610, Singapore. dmolst@nccs.com.sg
Telephone: +65-64368000
Fax: +65-62256283
Received: May 20, 2009 Revised: June 11, 2009 Accepted: June 18, 2009 Published online: August 14, 2009
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is endemic in various parts of the world. A proportion of patients have resolved prior exposure to HBV, as evidenced by the clearance of circulating hepatitis B surface antigen and the appearance of antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), which could produce protective antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs). With time, anti-HBs in some patients may become negative. Such patients are described as having occult HBV infection or “anti-HBc alone”. In the context of immunodeficient patients, such as HIV patients or lymphoma patients undergoing immunosuppressive immunotherapy, the lack of protective anti-HBs may increase the risk of hepatitis B reactivation. Serum HBV DNA testing may be necessary in “anti-HBc alone” patients, to detect patients at a high risk of developing HBV infection allowing appropriate prophylactic management.
