Hjalmarsson S, Blomberg J, Grillner L, Pipkorn R, Allander T
Department of Medical Sciences, Section of Virology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
J Med Virol. 2001 Jun;64(2):117-24. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1026.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may result in acute resolving or chronic infection. Patients that clear the infection have a more vigorous cellular immune response and an early humoral response to the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) of the E2 envelope protein. To analyse further the properties of the early anti-HVR1 response, cross-reactivity of anti-HVR1 responses was assessed in five patients with acute HCV infection, who were infected by the same virus strain during a nosocomial outbreak. The sequence evolution of HVR1 was examined in sequential serum samples up to 37 months post infection. Peptides were synthesised corresponding to the obtained HVR1 sequences and unrelated HVR1 sequences, and antibody reactivity to the peptides in sequential sera was investigated by ELISA. The results suggest an association between specific gaps in humoral immunity and the HVR1 sequence evolution during early infection. Possible interpretations of this phenomenon include immune escape mechanisms or suppression of specific anti-HVR1 antibodies.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染可能导致急性感染自愈或慢性感染。清除感染的患者对E2包膜蛋白高变区1（HVR1）有更强的细胞免疫反应和早期体液反应。为了进一步分析早期抗HVR1反应的特性，在五例急性HCV感染患者中评估了抗HVR1反应的交叉反应性，这些患者在一次医院感染暴发期间感染了同一病毒株。在感染后长达37个月的连续血清样本中检测了HVR1的序列演变。合成了与获得的HVR1序列及无关HVR1序列相对应的肽段，并通过ELISA研究了连续血清中抗体与这些肽段的反应性。结果表明，早期感染期间体液免疫中的特定缺口与HVR1序列演变之间存在关联。对这一现象的可能解释包括免疫逃逸机制或特定抗HVR1抗体的抑制作用。
