An ELISA for detection of antibodies to the E2 protein of GB virus C.

Pubmed ID: 9203673

Journal: The Journal of infectious diseases

Publication Date: Feb. 1, 1997

MeSH Terms: Humans, RNA, Viral, Prevalence, Blood Donors, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Animals, Antibodies, Viral, Hepatitis, Viral, Human, Africa, CHO Cells, Cricetinae, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Flaviviridae, Plasmapheresis, Recombinant Proteins, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, Viral Envelope Proteins, Transfusion Reaction

Authors: Mosley JW, Nemo GJ, Dille BJ, Surowy TK, Gutierrez RA, Coleman PF, Knigge MF, Carrick RJ, Aach RD, Hollinger FB, Stevens CE, Barbosa LH, Dawson GJ, Mushahwar IK

Cite As: Dille BJ, Surowy TK, Gutierrez RA, Coleman PF, Knigge MF, Carrick RJ, Aach RD, Hollinger FB, Stevens CE, Barbosa LH, Nemo GJ, Mosley JW, Dawson GJ, Mushahwar IK. An ELISA for detection of antibodies to the E2 protein of GB virus C. J Infect Dis 1997 Feb;175(2):458-61.

Studies:

Abstract

An ELISA was developed for detection of antibodies to GB virus C (GBV-C) using a recombinant E2 protein expressed in CHO cells. Seroconversion to anti-E2 positivity was noted among several persons infected with GBV-C RNA-positive blood through transfusion. Of 6 blood recipients infected by GBV-C RNA-positive donors, 4 (67%) became anti-E2 positive and cleared their viremia. Thus, anti-E2 seroconversion is associated with viral clearance. The prevalence of antibodies to E2 was relatively low (3.0%-8.1%) in volunteer blood donors but was higher in several other groups, including plasmapheresis donors (34.0%), intravenous drug users (85.2%), and West African subjects (13.3%), all of whom tested negative by GBV-C reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). These data demonstrate that testing for anti-E2 should greatly extend the ability of RT-PCR to define the epidemiology and clinical significance of GBV-C.