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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, July 1999, p. 573-576, Vol. 6, No. 4
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Immunoreactivity to Putative B-Cell Epitopes of Hepatitis G Virus Polyprotein in Viremic and Nonviremic Subjects

Pierluigi Toniutto,1 Carlo Fabris,1 Fabio Barbone,1 Sergio G. Tisminetzky,2 Dario Liani,1 Tiziana Galai,1 Giovanni Barillari,3 Franco Biffoni,3 Vinicio Gasparini,1 and Mario Pirisi1,*

DPMSC, Medical School, University of Udine,1 Blood Bank, Udine General Hospital,3 Udine, and International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste,2 Italy

Received 18 December 1998/Returned for modification 29 January 1999/Accepted 18 March 1999

The hepatitis G virus (HGV) polyprotein was scanned by computer-aided prediction of antigenicity to search for B-cell epitopes. Four polypeptide sequences, V37D (amino acids [aa] 1685 to 1721), V36S (aa 2102 to 2137), P37R (aa 2156 to 2192), and C40P (aa 2280 to 2319), were identified and synthesized for use in immunoassays. Antibodies to these peptides were searched for in a panel of 239 serum samples, which were also tested for anti-E2 antibodies and HGV RNA. Furthermore, the course of HGV markers was studied prospectively in four patients who had been transfused with HGV RNA-positive blood. There was a negative association between immunoreactivity to V37D and P37R and presence of HGV RNA (2 of 53 and 1 of 53, respectively; P < 0.05); none of the subjects with dual antibody positivity was HGV RNA positive. Anti-V37D and anti-P37R antibodies compared favorably with anti-E2 antibodies as markers of recovery from HGV infection. These results might be useful for the development of new, more sensitive diagnostic assays.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Cattedra di Medicina Interna, Università degli Studi, Piazzale Santa Maria della Misericordia 1, 33100 Udine, Italy. Phone: 39-432-559801. Fax: 39-432-42097. E-mail: mario.pirisi{at}dpmsc.uniud.it.

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, July 1999, p. 573-576, Vol. 6, No. 4
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.




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Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. Infect. Immun.
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Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.