Hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) targets viral core protein and is produced in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and seroconversion occurs in the early stage of infection and often lasts for a lifetime. Qualitative detection of anti-HBc has been used in clinical practice for many years, while the clinical significance of its quantitative level remains unclear. A novel anti-HBc immunoassay based on double-antigen sandwich ELISA has been developed in recent years and lays a foundation for illustrating the change in the quantitative level of anti-HBc (qAnti-HBc) in HBV infection and its clinical significance. Several recent studies have revealed that qAnti-HBc is associated with the degree of hepatitis activity and response to pharmacotherapy and may become an important basis for selecting antiviral drugs, optimizing therapeutic regimen, and predicting treatment outcome.
乙型肝炎病毒核心抗体（抗-HBc）是乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）感染者产生的针对病毒核心蛋白的抗体，在感染早期即发生阳转，且常持续存在终生。抗-HBc的定性检测已在临床实践中应用多年，但其定量水平的临床意义尚不十分清楚。近年发展起来的基于双抗原夹心法的抗-HBc检测技术，为阐释抗-HBc定量水平（qAnti-HBc）在HBV感染中的变化规律及其临床意义奠定了基础。近年多项研究表明，qAnti-HBc与肝炎活动程度及药物治疗应答高度相关，有望成为抗病毒治疗药物选择、方案优化及疗效预测的重要依据。.
Keywords: Anti-HBc; Diagnostic marker; Hepatitis B virus; Quantitative hepatitis B core antibody; Treatment response prediction.