Development of a quantitative chemiluminescent immunoassay for the hepatitis B. antigen detection

The surface antigen of the hepatitis B (HBsAg) is the first detectable serological marker in infected patients. It enables to detect the infection in the first stages of the disease allowing a timely therapeutic intervention with a higher chance of success. A quantitative immunoassay will allow the customers to carry out the quantitative determination of the HBsAg at the start of treatment and during the follow up. Mutations that occur in a conformational surface region, called “a” loop, of HBsAg can cause an epitope loss impairing the antibody interaction deriving from host immune response as well as from vaccination and present in commercial immunoassays. DiaSorin new quantitative immunoassay has high sensibility and specificity and the ability to detect HBsAg mutants.