title: Infectivity of hepatitis C virus correlates with the amount of envelope protein E2: development of a new aptamer-based assay system suitable for measuring the infectious titer of HCV.
abstract: Various forms of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related particles are produced from HCV-infected cells. Measuring infectivity of a HCV sample with the conventional 'foci counting method' is laborious and time-consuming. Moreover, the infectivity of a HCV sample does not correlate with the amount of viral RNA that can be measured by real-time RT-PCR. Here we report a new assay suitable for quantifying infectious HCV particles using aptamers against HCV E2, which is named 'Enzyme Linked Apto-Sorbent Assay (ELASA)'. The readout value of HCV ELASA linearly correlates with the infectious dose of an HCV sample, but not with the amount of HCV RNA. We also demonstrated that the activities of anti-HCV drugs can be monitored by HCV ELASA. Therefore, HCV ELASA is a quick-and-easy method to quantify infectious units of HCV stocks and to monitor efficacies of potential anti-HCV drugs.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Virology Laboratory, POSTECH Biotech Center, Department of Life Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyoja-dong, Nam-gu, Pohang, Kyungbuk 790-784, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Min Hyeok
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Jee
authors.forename: Oh Sung
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Sun Ju
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Keum
authors.forename: Sung Key
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Jang
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D052156:SELEX Aptamer Technique; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019562:Viral Load / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C091015:glycoprotein E2, Hepatitis C virus