Hepatitis B Antigen (HB Ag) has been found in human blood capable of transmitting viral hepatitis. HB Ag and anti‐HB Ag were therefore sought in the cold ethanol fractions of plasma from HB Ag+ patients collected into three different anticoagulant solutions, in fractions from individuals with anti‐complementary plasma containing anti‐HB Ag, and in fractions from large pools of ACD plasma from normal blood donors. HB Ag was present in all Cohn fractions except Fraction II (immune serum globulin, ISG) when prepared from HB Ag+ plasma regardless of the anticoagulant used. Five of eleven production lots of ISG and one of six NSA preparations contained measurable quantities of anti‐HB Ag, but none contained HB Ag. Antibody to HB Ag was detected in Cohn Fractions I, II, III and, to a lesser extent, in V after the cold ethanol process when prepared from plasma from HB Ag+ hepatitis patients. Despite the simultaneous presence of HB Ag and anti‐HB Ag, these plasmas were not anticomplementary. HB Ag was not found in fractions of plasma from individuals with anti‐HB Ag whose sera were anticomplementary. The radioimmunoassay technics for detecting HB Ag in Fraction II and ISG gave false positive reactions. Despite the improved sensitivity of these technics, they cannot be relied upon to give meaningful analyses for HB Ag in ISG preparations. In testing ISG for antibody to HB Ag, however, the hemagglutination and radioimmunoprecipitation tests appeared to give reliable results.
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Holland et al. (1972) studied this question.
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