Level of Human Antibodies Targeting HCV E1/E2 Peptides and Spontaneous Clearance of HCV in Blood Donors.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major health problem worldwide particularly in Egypt. The humoral immune response has an important function in the control of HCV infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of neutralizing antibodies in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) clearance in infected individuals.

Establishment of hybrid cell lines producing monoclonal antibodies to a synthetic peptide from the E1 region of the hepatitis C virus.

We aimed at establishing hybridoma cells secreting monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against E1 synthetic peptide of HCV. BALB/c mice were immunized with HCV E1-synthetic peptide (GHRMAWDMM) and its spleenocytes were fused with the P3NS1 myeloma cell line. Two highly reactive and specific mAbs (10C7 IgG2b mAb, and 10B2 IgG1 mAb) were generated.

Circulating viral core and E1 antigen levels as supplemental markers for HCV chronic hepatitis.

The performance of polyclonal monospecific rabbit anti-sera raised against synthetic peptides derived from conserved HCV sequences of genotype 4 was evaluated for efficient detection of viral core and E1 antigens in circulating immune complexes (ICs) precipitated from 65 serum samples of HCV patients. The infection was established in those patients by the presence of HCV RNA in their sera. A novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for the detection of HCV core and E1 antigen in serum samples.