Kato N, Nakazawa T, Ootsuyama Y, Sugiyama K, Ohkoshi S, Shimotohno K
Virology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo.
Jpn J Cancer Res. 1994 Oct;85(10):987-91. doi: 10.1111/j.1349-7006.1994.tb02894.x.
Hypervariable region 1 (HVR1), located in the N-terminal region of a putative second envelope glycoprotein (gp70) of hepatitis C virus (HCV), contains immunological B-cell epitopes which might be neutralizing epitopes. To clarify whether B-cell epitopes within HVR1 are common among virus isolates or specific for the homologous virus isolate, we examined the reactivities of sera from 53 patients with chronic hepatitis or hepatocellular carcinoma/liver cirrhosis against two different HVR1 peptides (HVR1 I-1 and HVR1 Y-1) derived from patient I with sporadic acute hepatitis and an asymptomatic carrier Y, respectively, using our original assay system for the detection of anti-HVR1 antibody. All patients examined had a history of blood transfusion. Most sera showed no reactivity with either HVR1 I-1 or HVR1 Y-1 peptide. Only seven and fourteen serum samples reacted significantly, although weakly, with HVR1 I-1 and HVR1 Y-1 peptides, respectively, compared with the serum from patient I or asymptomatic carrier Y. The blood transfusions of most reactive cases had occurred more than thirty years earlier. Six cases reacted with both HVR1 I-1 and HVR1 Y-1 peptides, but further analysis revealed that only three cases reacted weakly with the peptide for either epitope I or II, identified within HVR1 I-1. These results indicate that the B-cell epitopes within HVR1 are fairly specific for the homologous virus isolate, and this may represent a serious difficulty in the development of a vaccine against HCV.
高变区1（HVR1）位于丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）假定的第二种包膜糖蛋白（gp70）的N端区域，含有可能是中和表位的免疫B细胞表位。为了阐明HVR1内的B细胞表位在病毒分离株中是否常见或对同源病毒分离株具有特异性，我们使用我们最初的检测抗HVR1抗体的检测系统，检测了53例慢性肝炎或肝细胞癌/肝硬化患者的血清对分别来自散发性急性肝炎患者I和无症状携带者Y的两种不同HVR1肽（HVR1 I-1和HVR1 Y-1）的反应性。所有接受检查的患者都有输血史。大多数血清与HVR1 I-1或HVR1 Y-1肽均无反应。与患者I或无症状携带者Y的血清相比，分别只有7份和14份血清样本与HVR1 I-1和HVR1 Y-1肽有明显反应，尽管反应较弱。大多数有反应病例的输血发生在三十多年前。6例与HVR1 I-1和HVR1 Y-1肽均有反应，但进一步分析显示，只有3例与在HVR1 I-1内鉴定的表位I或II的肽有弱反应。这些结果表明，HVR1内的B细胞表位对同源病毒分离株具有相当的特异性，这可能是开发抗HCV疫苗的一个严重困难。
