Yuki N, Hayashi N, Kasahara A, Hagiwara H, Mita E, Ohkawa K, Katayama K, Fusamoto H, Kamada T
First Department of Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Japan.
Hepatology. 1996 May;23(5):947-52. doi: 10.1053/jhep.1996.v23.pm0008621173.
The significance of circulating antibody to hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope glycoprotein 2 (E2)/nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) glycoprotein was studied in 83 patients with chronic HCV infection diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). E2/NS1 antibody was quantitatively examined by a passive hemagglutination test using recombinant E2/NS1 glycoprotein encompassing amino acids 388 to 664 of the HCV-H strain. The results were correlated with clinical and virological features such as genotypes and viremic levels assessed by a competitive reverse-transcription PCR assay. E2/NS1 antibody was found in 73 patients (88%), and its occurrence was related to viremic levels. E2/NS1 antibody titers were low in asymptomatic HCV carriers with low levels of viral replication; 9 of 17 such patients tested positive for E2/NS1 antibody (53%), compared with 64 of 66 chronic hepatitis C patients (97%) (P < .01). A significant direct relationship was observed between viremic levels and E2/NS1 antibody titers (r = .52, P < .01). Of the 13 patients with low viremic levels of < 10(6) copies/mL, only 5 tested positive for E2/NS1 antibody (38%), whereas 68 of the 70 patients with viremic levels of > or = 10(6) copies/mL had it (97%) (P < .01). As for the relation to HCV genotypes, no difference was seen in E2/NS1 antibody titers among genotypes examined (1b, 2a, and 2b). These findings suggest that the E2/NS1 antibody tested exhibits no neutralizing activity in chronic HCV infection but may serve as a serological indicator of active virus replication.
在83例经聚合酶链反应（PCR）诊断为慢性丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染的患者中，研究了循环抗HCV包膜糖蛋白2（E2）/非结构蛋白1（NS1）糖蛋白抗体的意义。使用包含HCV-H株氨基酸388至664的重组E2/NS1糖蛋白，通过被动血凝试验对E2/NS1抗体进行定量检测。结果与临床和病毒学特征相关，如通过竞争性逆转录PCR检测评估的基因型和病毒血症水平。73例患者（88%）检测到E2/NS1抗体，其出现与病毒血症水平有关。病毒复制水平低的无症状HCV携带者中E2/NS1抗体滴度较低；17例此类患者中有9例E2/NS1抗体检测呈阳性（53%），而66例慢性丙型肝炎患者中有64例（97%）（P<0.01）。观察到病毒血症水平与E2/NS1抗体滴度之间存在显著的直接关系（r = 0.52，P<0.01）。13例病毒血症水平低于10⁶拷贝/mL的患者中，只有5例E2/NS1抗体检测呈阳性（38%），而70例病毒血症水平≥10⁶拷贝/mL的患者中有68例（97%）（P<0.01）。至于与HCV基因型的关系，在所检测的基因型（1b、2a和2b）中，E2/NS1抗体滴度没有差异。这些发现表明，所检测的E2/NS1抗体在慢性HCV感染中不具有中和活性，但可能作为病毒活跃复制的血清学指标。
