Studies on Non-A, Non-B Hepatitis Virus Related Nucleic Acids

我们已经报道了12个与非A.从一个随机引物λ gt 11-cDNA文库中分离出非乙型（NANB）肝炎病毒感染，其中一个由114个核苷酸和38个氨基酸组成的克隆（克隆#14）被确定为对丙型肝炎病毒感染具有高度特异性。最近，HCV的5 '端序列被报道。证明克隆14与病毒的结构（核心）区有一定的同源性，并对其表达产物的抗原特异性进行了评价。我们研究了抗该产品的血清抗体通过使用从核苷酸序列预测的合成肽通过ELISA检测（Arima 14 Ab），并与Ortho的HCV抗体的结果进行比较C-100 Ab检测结果表明，Arima 14 Ab对丙型肝炎病毒感染具有高度特异性，但C-100 Ab与Arima 14 Ab检测结果存在一定差异。尤其是在日本献血者和血友病患者中，Arima 14 Ab比C-100 Ab更敏感。更有趣的是。应用聚合酶链反应（PCR）技术对60%以上的慢性非乙型肝炎患者中C-100抗体阴性而Arima 14抗体阳性的患者进行HCV基因组检测，结果表明，Arima 14抗体是一种HCV核心抗体，对HCV具有高度特异性，可用于检测HCV感染。

We have already reported that twelve CDNA clones related to non-A. non-B(NANB)hepatitis infection were isolated from a random primed lambda gtll-cDNA library constructed from donors' plasma presumably infected by NANB hepatitis virus.Of these, one clone(clone #14)consisting of 114 nucleotides and 38 amino acids was determined to be highly specific for hepatitis C infection. Recently, 5'-terminal sequence of HCV was reported. And then it was proved that clone #14 had some homology to the structural(core)region of the virus.To evaluate the antigenie specificity of the expression product of the clone, we studied serum antibody against the product(Arima 14 Ab)by ELISA by using a systhetic peptide predicted from the nucleotide sequence and compared with the results of Ortho's HCV antibody(C-100 Ab)test.Our data suggest that Arima 14 Ab is highly specific for hepatitis C virus infection but there was some discrepancy in the results between C-100 Ab and Arima 14 Ab. Especially Arima 14 Ab was more sensitive than C-100 Ab in the cases of Japanese blood donors and hemophiliacs. More interestingly. HCV genome was detected in the cases of Arima 14 Ab positive but C-100 Ab negative patients with chronic NANB hepatitis with high incidence(more than 60 percent)by using polymerase chain reaction.In conclusion, Arima 14 Ab is a kind of HCV core antibody and it is highly specific for HCV and useful to detect HCV infection.