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Immune recognition of linear antigenic regions within the hepatitis B pre‐C and c‐gene translation products using synthetic peptides
Author(s) -
Sällberg Matti,
Rudén Ulla,
Wahren Britta,
Magnius Lars O.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.1890420103
Subject(s) - hbsag , hbcag , hbeag , antigen , virology , hepatitis b virus , antibody , hepatitis b , epitope , isotype , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biology , medicine , virus , immunology , monoclonal antibody
The antibody recognition of linear regions within the amino acid (aa) sequence of hepatitis B (HB) core antigen (HBcAg), e antigen (HBeAg), and pre‐C region was investigated in 46 patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), and one immunized rabbit. Peptide analogues were synthesized to cover the complete product of the C‐gene, including the pre‐C region using various synthetic methods. Two carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) with anti‐HBe, recognized pin‐bound decapeptides covereing amino acid (aa) 76‐83 of HBc/eAg, and the most essential residues were found to be Asp 78 , Pro 79 , Arg 82 , and Asp 83 . Pre‐C peptides were recognized by lgG1 or lgG3 in sera from two out of ten cases with acute HB, in four out of twelve sera from HBeAg‐positive carriers of HBsAg, and in two out of twelve sera from anti‐HBe‐positive carriers of HBsAg. Two sera from the cases of acute HB showed strong reactivity of the IgG3 isotype with HBc/eAg peptides 61–85. Five of the sera from HBeAg‐positive carriers of HBsAg were weakly reactive with peptides 41–60, 61–85, 121–140, and/or 141–160. Eight of the sera from anti‐HBe‐positive carriers of HBsAg recognized aa 121‐140 of HBc/e with lgG1, lgG3, and/or lgG4 iso‐types. IgG from one immunized rabbit recognized peptides 1–20, 61–85, and 71–90, and the T‐cells recognized peptides 1–20 and 71–90. Thus, human and rabbit antibodies recognize linear antigenic regions within the pre‐C, and within regions 1–20, 41–60, 61–85, 121–140, and 141–160 of HBcAg. Thus, the major HBc site is likely to comprise more than one part of the HBcAg sequence, of which a sequence within residues 61–85 might be a linear component. © 1994 Wiiey‐Liss, Inc.