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Improved serodiagnosis of non‐A, non‐B hepatitis by an assay detecting antibody to hepatitis C virus core antigen
Author(s) -
Katayama Tohru,
Mazda Toshio,
Kikuchi Shu,
Harada Shizuko,
Matsuura Yoshiharu,
Chiba Joe,
Ohba Hiroyoshi,
Saito Izumu,
Miyamura Tatsuo
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.1840150306
Subject(s) - virology , antibody , antigen , hepatitis c virus , medicine , hepatitis b virus , core protein , immunology , virus
We examined sequential serum samples from 12 patients with well‐characterized posttransfusion non‐A, non‐B hepatitis who had an acute, resolving self‐limited type of clinical course for the presence of antibody to the hepatitis C virus nucleocapsid (core) protein (p22) expressed by a recombinant baculovirus. These sera were simultaneously examined for antibody to the hepatitis C virus nonstructural protein (C 100‐3) that is presently used for blood screening worldwide. In three patients, both anti‐p22 and anti‐C 100‐3 antibodies were detected, but anti‐p22 was detected much earlier. In four patients, only anti‐p22 was detected. Two other patients were considered to be hepatitis C virus carriers who had been already infected with hepatitis C virus. In one patient, only anti‐C 100‐3 was detected, and it was transient. In two patients, neither antibody was detected. Anti‐p22 was detected in at least one of eight samples of transfused blood. Of the nine samples of donated blood that were positive for anti‐p22, only four were positive for anti‐C 100‐3. This new assay detecting the antibody to the p22 protein is thus useful for the serodiagnosis of non‐A, non‐B hepatitis in the acute phase and for blood screening. (Hepatology 1992;15:391–394).