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Comparison of Envelope 2 CD81 binding regions in PBMC‐derived versus serum‐derived hepatitis C virus isolates: higher conservation of CD81 region 2 in PBMC isolates
Author(s) -
Welker M.W.,
Welsch C.,
Ochs D.,
Hofmann W. P.,
Herrmann E.,
Piiper A.,
Hartmann R. W.,
Zeuzem S.,
Sarrazin C.,
Kronenberger B.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of viral hepatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1365-2893
pISSN - 1352-0504
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2893.2010.01296.x
Subject(s) - cd81 , virology , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , envelope (radar) , hepatitis c virus , biology , virus , genetics , in vitro , computer science , telecommunications , radar
Summary. The aim of the present study was to investigate the variability of hepatitis C virus (HCV) CD81 binding regions (CD81‐1/2) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)‐derived and serum‐derived HCV‐RNA samples. HCV‐RNA was isolated from PBMC (10 4 cells) and serum samples from 37 patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 1a/1b ( n = 21/16). The hypervariable regions 1/2 (amino acid 384–410, amino acid 474–482) and regions CD81‐1/2 (amino acid 474–494, amino acid 522–551) were analysed. Mutational frequency of amino acid sequences was compared between PBMC‐derived and serum‐derived HCV variants as well as local accumulation of mutations. Furthermore, CD81 was quantified on PBMC. Mutational frequency was not different between PBMC‐derived and serum‐derived HCV variants. A trend to lower mutational frequency in genotype 1a PBMC variants compared with serum‐derived variants was observed in region CD81‐2 (5% vs 10%). Smoothed mutational frequency analysis showed a significantly lower variability within genotype 1a CD81‐2 in PBMC‐derived compared to serum‐derived HCV‐RNA ( P = 0.026). CD81 expression on PBMC was not correlated with the number of mutations within the CD81 binding regions. Conclusion: A higher conservation was observed in region CD81‐2 in PBMC‐derived versus serum‐derived HCV‐RNA indicating selection of HCV variants on PBMC. The variability in the CD81 binding regions appeared to be independent from CD81 expression.