[Non-A non-B hepatitis virus: demonstration of a double antigenic and structural kinship with hepatitis B virus]

Major antigenic identity has been demonstrated by immunodiffusion between the Ag described by Shirachi and confirmed by us (NANB/e) in the serum on non A non B hepatitis and the HBe/3 specificity of hepatitis B virus (HBV). A second Ag (NANB/c) linked to the core of a new virion morphologically similar to HBV and also associated with ADN polymerase activity as recently described, has been identified and purified from an infected liver. This NANB/c Ag also cross reacts with HBc Ag. These results confirm that HBV and the NANB virus defined here belong to the same new class of DNA viruses.