title: Hepatitis C virus replication and antibody responses toward specific hepatitis C virus proteins.
abstract: We assessed the correlation between hepatitis C virus replication and antibody responses toward hepatitis C virus core (C22-3), NS3 (C33C), NS4 (5-1-1 and C100-3) and NS5 proteins in 59 virus carriers. The concentration of serum hepatitis C virus RNA was determined by a competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay. All 50 patients with high viremic levels of > or = 10(6) copies/mL had antibodies to C22-3 and C33C. Antibodies to 5-1-1, C100-3 and NS5 proteins were detected less frequently (p < 0.01) in 72% (36 of 50), 78% (39 of 50) and 84% (32 of 38) of such patients, respectively. As for the nine patients with low viremic levels of < 10(6) copies/mL, antibodies to C22-3, C33C, 5-1-1 and NS5 proteins were detected in only one patient (11%), which was significantly less than the frequency for highly viremic patients (p < 0.01). Antibody to C100-3 was also found less frequently in only four patients (44%) (p < 0.05). Thus, only four (44%) of the nine low viremic patients tested positive for any antibody compared with all 50 highly viremic patients (p < 0.01). These results indicate that highly viremic carriers can be detected by the presence of hepatitis C virus antibodies, but a considerable proportion of low viremic carriers may not show any serological evidence of hepatitis C virus infection.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yuki
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kasahara
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hagiwara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohkawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fusamoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamada
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001483:Base Sequence; D002353:Carrier State / Q000382:microbiology*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000382:microbiology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014766:Viremia / Q000382:microbiology; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014758:Viral Core Proteins; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins