Detection of acute hepatitis C virus infection by ELISA using a synthetic peptide comprising a structural epitope.
An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed by using a synthetic polypeptide (SP) whose sequence was derived from the structural region of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Results of several coded panels of sera obtained from volunteer blood donors and patients with apparent non-A, non-B hepatitis and/or hepatitis B virus used in this ELISA were compared with those of a commercially available first-generation C-100 ELISA (using nonstructural HCV antigens), an experimental second-generation C-200/C-22 ELISA (using both structural and nonstructural HCV antigens), and recombinant immunoblot assays RIBA-I and RIBA-II. In the majority of cases, the results obtained with the HCV-SP ELISA correlated well with those obtained by RIBA-II and C-200/C-22 ELISA. In contrast, many samples that were repeatedly reactive in the C-100 ELISA results were nonreactive with RIBA and HCV-SP ELISA. In addition, HCV-SP detected HCV-specific antibody that appeared within a month of infection and coincided with the earliest increase in alanine aminotransferase. In summary, we have developed an ELISA based on a structural HCV synthetic polypeptide, HCV-SP, that has high specificity and sensitivity and is capable of detecting specific antibodies in the acute phase of HCV infection.
Kotwal
G J
GJ
Division of Molecular Virology, James N. Gamble Institute of Medical Research, Cincinnati, OH 45219.
Baroudy
B M
BM
Kuramoto
I K
IK
McDonald
F F
FF
Schiff
G M
GM
Holland
P V
PV
Zeldis
J B
JB
D000208:Acute Disease; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D000939:Epitopes / Q000032:analysis*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting / Q000379:methods; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D012016:Reference Values; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
D000939:Epitopes; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D010455:Peptides; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins