apfcbAPFCB eNewscoAPFCB News Volume 1, Issue 1MultidisciplinaryEnglishJan-Jun, 2022NNY20220930ArticlesDetection of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in patients with occult hepatitis B using a sensitive HBsAg assayEnglishY5457DannyWong1EnglishN2EnglishYJamesFung1EnglishY2 ClaireChen3EnglishYLung-YiMak2EnglishYWai-KaySetoEnglishYManFungYuen1EnglishY2EnglishY10.62772/APFCB-News.2022.1.5Introduction Patients with occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) have undetectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) by conventional assays, but detectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in the blood and/or liver. Conventional HBsAg assays generally have a limit of detection (LLOD) of 0.02 – 0.05 IU/mL. Sensitive assays for HBsAg detection have been developed, one of which is the ARCHITECT HBsAg Next Qualitative Assay (Abbott Laboratories; referred as HBsAg NEXT), with an enhanced analytical sensitivity of 0.0052 IU/mL.1.Aim To evaluate the performance of HBsAg NEXT with respect to HBsAg detection in patients with OBI.Englishhttps://apfcb.org/APFCB_News/abstract?id=36References16191. Lou S, Taylor R, Pearce S, Kuhns M, Leary T. 2018. An ultra-sensitive Abbott ARCHITECT (R) assay for the detection of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg). J Clin Virol 105:18-25.2. Tsoi WC, Lelie N, Lin CK. 2013. Enhanced detection of hepatitis B virus in Hong Kong blood donors after introduction of a more sensitive transcription-mediated amplification assay. Transfusion 53:2477-88.3. Seto WK, Wong DK, Chan TY, Hwang YY, Fung J, Liu KS, Gill H, Lam YF, Cheung KS, Lie AK, Lai CL, Kwong YL, Yuen MF. 2016. Association of Hepatitis B Core-eelated antigen with Hepatitis B virus reactivation in occult viral carriers undergoing high-risk immunosuppressive therapy. Am J Gastroenterol 111:1788-1795.4. Liu KSH, Seto WK, Lau EHY, Wong DK, Lam YF, Cheung KS, Mak LY, Ko KL, To WP, Law MWK, Wu JT, Lai CL, Yuen MF. 2019. A Territorywide Prevalence Study on Blood-Borne and Enteric Viral Hepatitis in Hong Kong. J Infect Dis 219:1924-1933.Disclosures This study is supported by Abbott Laboratories.Contact Information Claire Chen, Global Scientific Affairs, Core Diagnostics, Abbott Laboratories. Email: Claire.chen@abbott.com Danny Wong,Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. Email: danywong@hku.hk