Development of diagnostic methods and study of the immunoreactivity of a mixture of recombinant core and E2 proteins fused to GST with control serum positive for hepatitis C.

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an enveloped virus that is about 50-70 nm in diameter, has positive-strand RNA, and belongs to the genus Hepacivirus and the family Flaviridae. The detection and quantification of the core antigen, HCV nucleocapsid protein, has been successful in many trials and is considered a marker of viral replication since it presents a sequence of highly conserved amino acids, giving it high sensitivity and specificity. The E2 protein is an envelope glycoprotein of HCV with 11 glycosylation sites; most of these are well-conserved, making it a target antigen.

Development of a rapid one-step immunochromatographic assay for HCV core antigen detection.

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein possesses amino acid sequences highly conserved among HCV isolates and has proved useful for various diagnostic tests. To date, no information has been published regarding the development of an immunochromatographic test for HCV core antigen detection. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop a rapid, easily performed, highly sensitive and specific test for detection of the HCV core antigen, based on the immunochromatographic strip.