title: Establishment of a nonradioactive assay for 2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetase and its application in chronic hepatitis C patients receiving interferon-alpha
abstract: AIM:To establish a nonradioactive assay for 2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetase (2-5 AS) and to measure the 2-5AS in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) extracts of patients with chronic hepatitis C before IFN-alphainjection, 24 hours and one month after the first injection.METHODS: 2-5AS in cell extracts of PBMCs from 10 normal persons and 15 chronic hepatitis C patients were determined with PEI cellulose thin-layer chromatography.RESULTS: The assay of 2-5AS in human PBMC was found to be rapid, sensitive, specific and reliable. The 2-5AS activity of PBMC in normal persons was in a quite low level (2.0%), and it was increased about ten-folds after stimulation of IFN (19.7%), (P < 0.01). In 15 chronic hepatitic C patients, the basal levels of 2-5AS before IFN treatment were higher than those of normal persons, being much higher in the group showing poor response to IFN treatment, but 24h after the first injection of IFN-alphathe 2-5AS level showed a more rapid and much greater rise in those patients with a good response.CONCLUSION: 2-5AS may be a useful parameter of biological response during the IFN therapy.
authors.forename: Wen-Bin
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Chun-Ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bai-Fang
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Qi-Min
authors.initials: QM
authors.lastname: Tao