Analysis of humoral immune response to hypervariable region of hepatitis C virus

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

HVRs of 26 clones of six patients with chronic hepatitis C were expressed as proteins fused with glutathione S-transferase (GST), and sera of the patients were serially tested for antibody to these proteins. The extent of antibody response to HVR differed considerably among the patients. Three patients showed no or only scanty antibody response, and the others showed frequent or persistent antibody response. An augmentation of antibody response always followed the exacerbation of serum alanine aminotransferase levels. These results indicates that deficiency of antibody response to HVR may be one of the causes of persistency in HCV infection.Subsequently, we investigated the antibody response to HVR in 21 patients with chronic hepatitis C.8-26 clones per serum were expressed, and the reactivity with the sera was assessed by Western blot. The incidence of HVR fusion proteins reactive with the corresponding serum was significantly higher in genotype 2a than in genotype 1b. This difference may be related to the distinctions in the clinical aspects of these two HCV genotypes.