{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,31]],"date-time":"2026-10-31T00:57:57Z","timestamp":1793408277896,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,16]],"date-time":"2023-05-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1684195200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) is a condition in which replication-competent viral DNA is detected in the liver (with detectable or undetectable HBV DNA in serum) of individual testing negative for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg). It is a risk factor for transfusion or transplant transmission, reactivation after immunosuppression or chemotherapy, and progression of chronic liver disease and hepatocarcinogenesis. The long-term stable presence of covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), which is fully replicative in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes is the molecular basis for the formation of OBI. HBV genome in liver tissue, HBV DNA and anti-HBc test in serum are the gold standard, common method and alternative markers for OBI diagnosis, respectively. Due to the stability of covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) and the long half-life of hepatocytes, the existence of OBI is extensive and prolonged. The low and\/or intermittent replication of HBV in OBI patients, the limitations of the sensitivity of serological tests, and the non-standardized and invasive nature of liver histology render the \u201ccommonly used\u201d serological tests are unreliable and the \u201cgold standard\u201d liver histology is impractical, thus the findings from studies on the formation, diagnosis and transplantation or transfusion transmission of HBV in OBI strongly suggest that the \u201calternative\u201d marker, the anti-HBc test, may be the most reliable and practical approach for OBI diagnosis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2023.1186877","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,16]],"date-time":"2023-05-16T01:29:00Z","timestamp":1684200540000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["High-sensitivity HBV DNA test for the diagnosis of occult HBV infection: commonly used but not reliable"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Chengwei","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rongrong","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinru","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jianchun","family":"Xian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"265","DOI":"10.1016\/j.transci.2010.09.012","article-title":"Are isolated anti-HBc blood donors in high risk group? the detection of HBV DNA in isolated anti-HBc cases with nucleic acid amplification test (NAT) based on transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) and HBV discrimination","volume":"43","author":"Altunay","year":"2010","journal-title":"Transfusion Apheresis Sci."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"765","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhep.2011.11.011","article-title":"T Cell responses and viral variability in blood donation candidates with occult hepatitis b infection","volume":"56","author":"Bes","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. 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