Detection of Australia Antigen in Human Tissue Culture Preparations 1

Summary

An attempt was made to propagate Australia antigen. Au(1), in tissue culture. The approach to the study was twofold: (a) the culturing of fresh biopsied tissues from patients with hepatitis and Au(1) in their blood; and (b) the addition of serum, plasma, and extracts of biopsied liver from patients with Au(1) in their blood to established cell lines and primary cells from human fetal tissues in tissue culture. Positive results were obtained only with the first approach. Two liver cultures out of 23 specimens from patients with Au(1) in their blood produced either intranuclear fluorescent granules after staining with fluorescent coupled rabbit anti-Au(1) antiserum or Au(1) in the tissue culture fluids as determined by a sensitive radio-immunoprecipitation assay technique. Fluorescent intranuclear granulation appeared during the second and sixth passage of one culture of liver. It is unlikely that this could be explained by carry-over of Au(1) from the initial biopsy specimen. Cultures of sternal bone marrow, testis, jejunal loop, and lymphocytes from patients who had Au(1) in their blood were uniformly negative for fluorescent granules as well as Au(1) by radioimmuno-precipitation assay. The results indicate a strong possibility that Au(1) replicates in tissue culture.