Occult infection related hepatitis B surface antigen variants showing lowered secretion capacity

Figure 2 Secretion capacity and viral DNA formation of occult hepatitis B surface antigen variants. Extracellular secreted hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and intracellular expressed HBsAg from cell lysate were measured using a commercial HBsAg enzyme linked immunosorbent assay kit normalized via a β-galactosidase assay. After purification of the viral DNA from the supernatant and cell lysate using a total viral DNA preparation kit, detection of the viral DNA from both intracellular and extracellular was performed using real-time quantitative DNA-polymerase chain reaction assays. The hepatitis B virus DNA was normalized via a β-galactosidase assay. The tests were performed in triplicate (mean ± SD). sAg: Surface antigen. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01 vs wild type (Nor) group.