Antibody responses against B-cell epitopes of the hypervariable region 1 of hepatitis C virus in self-limiting and chronic human hepatitis C followed-up using consensus peptides

✍ Scribed by Maria G. Isaguliants; Anders Widell; Shumin M. Zhang; Anna Sidorchuk; Michael Levi; Valerii D. Smirnov; Teresa Santantonio; Helmut M. Diepolder; Gerd R. Pape; Erik Nordenfelt

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 260 KB
• Volume: 66
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.2131

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A rare collection of serum samples from patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection followed up from the onset of clinical symptoms was acquired. RNA corresponding to the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) of E2 protein of HCV isolated from nine patients was reverse‐transcribed, amplified, sequenced, and HVR1 amino acid sequences were deduced. These sequences and a selection of HVR1 amino acid sequences of matching HCV genotypes from protein and translated DNA sequence databanks were used to create the HVR1 amino acid consensus. The degenerated peptides mimicking N‐ and C‐termini of the consensus were synthesized. Most (76%) of 17 patients followed up for the period from 1 week to a minimum of 7 months from the onset of acute symptoms developed antibodies reacting with peptides representing N‐ and/or C‐ termini of HVR1. Antibody recognition of the consensus HVR1 peptides indicates that the variability of HVR1 sequence on the protein level is limited with certain conserved structure(s) being untouched. A tendency was observed for a slower development of anti‐HVR1 antibody response in patients developing chronic HCV, as compared to those with self‐limiting HCV infection. J. Med. Virol. 66:204–217, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.