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- Gabrielli, A, et al.
(author)
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Differential humoral immune response against hepatitis C virus antigenic synthetic peptides in infected patients with and without mixed cryoglobulinaemia
- 1996
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In: Clinical and experimental immunology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0009-9104 .- 1365-2249. ; 105:1, s. 59-64
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study we have evaluated the prevalence of antibodies against core region peptides (residues 1–28, 21–38 and 51–68), the envelope 1, the non-structural (NS) 4 and 5 proteins of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in sera from 65 chronically HCV-infected patients, 47 with mixed cryoglobulinaemia (MC+) and 18 without (MC−). The major binding sites were located within the core region. Regions 1–28 and 51–68 were recognized by a similar proportion of MC+ and MC− patients, while peptide 21–38 was less frequently detected by samples from MC+ patients (65.5% versus 100%; P=0.011). The patterns of the reactions showed a minimum of three binding sites: one, located within region 51–68, was shared by both groups; a second determinant was identified at residues 1–21 for MC+ patients and at residues 28–38 for MC− patients; a third, not exactly localized, lay between residues 1 and 38. Recognition of NS5 peptides was not significantly different between MC+ and MC− patients, but while the former mostly reacted either with peptide 1 (residues 2294–2309) (five of 15 sera) or with peptide 2 (residues 2304–2319) (nine of 15 sera), the latter group showed a more scattered reaction. Antibodies to HCV peptides prevalently belonged to IgG1 subclass. However, whereas IgG1 antibodies against peptide 21–38 and peptide 1 of NS5 were more frequently found in MC− rather than in MC+ patients (100% versus 63.8%, P=0.003, and 22.2% versus 4.2%, P=0.025, respectively), IgG3 antibodies against region 1–28 were more frequent in MC+ patients (53.19% versus 16.6%, P=0.0078). Overall, the data suggest that a differential humoral immune response to HCV antigens occurs in patients with and without cryoglobulinaemia.
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