Demonstration of a hepatitis C virus-specific antigen predicted from the putative core gene in the circulation of infected hosts
Takahashi, Kazuaki and Okamoto, Hiroaki and Kishimoto, Shinya and Munekata, Eisuke and Tachibana, Katsumi and Akahane, Yoshihiro and Yoshizawa, Hiroshi and Mishiro, Shunji,, 73, 667-672 (1992),
doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-73-3-667,
publicationName = Microbiology Society,
issn = 0022-1317,
abstract= An ELISA was used to detect a protein derived from the core gene of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in human plasma. The solid phase antibody in the assay was a murine monoclonal antibody against a synthetic peptide deduced from the putative core gene of HCV (residues 39 to 74). An enzyme-labelled affinity-purified human antibody directed at another region within the HCV core (residues 5 to 23) was the second antibody tracer. The ELISA had a sensitivity capable of detecting a few ng/ml of the HCV core polypeptide expressed in Escherichia coli. Core antigen activity in plasma of infected hosts was detected after treatment of HCV RNA-rich fractions from buoyant density centrifugation with the detergent Tween 80. There was a direct correlation between core antigen ELISA values of a plasma fraction and intensities of polymerase chain reaction signals for HCV RNA. These observations are consistent with the proposal that the N-terminal sequence of the predicted polyprotein of HCV is a nucleocapsid protein, and that improved core antigen assays may correlate with viraemia.,
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