title: Immune response to epitopes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) structural proteins in HCV-infected humans and chimpanzees.
abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected humans and chimpanzees were studied for reactivity with linear epitopes in HCV H strain structural proteins. In 10 HCV-infected patients, epitopes were mostly mapped to the capsid and E1 proteins but not to E2. However, serum from 1 HCV-infected blood donor with a high anti-capsid titer reacted with multiple epitopes including E2. By contrast, antibody to capsid epitopes was seen in sera from HCV-rechallenged chimpanzees but not from chronically infected animals. No reactivity was observed to GOR epitope in chimpanzees, while 6 of 11 human subjects reacted with this host-coded antigen. Reactivity to rare epitopes in E2 was seen in chimpanzees with chronic and self-limited infections. Reactivity to one peptide of E1 (aa 316-329) was observed in 10 of 11 sera from HCV-infected humans and 11 of 15 chimpanzee sera. However, reactivity to this epitope was also seen in normal chimpanzees and in 6 (7.1%) of 84 uninfected human subjects.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology and Parasitology, New York Blood Center, New York City, USA.
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brotman
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Andrus
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Prince
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000276:immunology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens; D010455:Peptides