Product Choice Affects Risk of False-Positive Hepatitis B Virus Serology During Immunoglobulin Replacement Therapy

Hannes Lindahl; Anna-Carin Norlin; Peter Bergman

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad551

Product Choice Affects Risk of False-Positive Hepatitis B Virus Serology During Immunoglobulin Replacement Therapy

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Nov 14;10(11):ofad551. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad551. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Authors

Hannes Lindahl^{1

2}, Anna-Carin Norlin^{1

3}, Peter Bergman^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
² Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) core antigen antibodies passively transferred from immunoglobulin products used for replacement or immunomodulation may lead to unnecessary antiviral treatment for patients who are also starting immunosuppressive treatment. We have systematically assessed the contents of 93 commercial immunoglobulin batches and show that there are consistent product-specific differences in the levels of HBV core antigen antibodies and that choice of immunoglobulin product may have an impact on false-positivity rates.

Keywords: Common variable immunodeficiency; HBV core antigen antibodies; Hepatitis B virus; Immunoglobulin replacement therapy; Passive immunity.