PREPARATION AND PURIFICATION OF RECOMBINA NT POLYPEPTIDE CONTAINING ANTIGENIC DETERMINANTS OF HEPATITIS-C CORE PROTEIN

A method has been developed for preparing and purifying recombinant po lypeptide - hepatitis C virus core protein (HCcoreAg) expressed in E. coli from pFC105-302 plasmid coding for 150 N-terminal amino acids of HCcoreAg in the hybrid from the C-terminal with beta-galactosidase. HC coreAg was purified by ion-exchange chromatography on P-11 phosphocell ulose. The bulk of protein carrying HCcoreAg antigenic determinants wa s found in two polypeptides: with molecular weights 26 and 136 kD. Ant igenic and immunogenic properties of the resultant polypeptide were st udied. The 26 kD protein can be used in enzyme immunoassay and immunob lotting as antigen for detecting antibodies to the HCV core protein. T he results of immunization of rabbits indicate a high immunogenic acti vity of the protein. High diagnostic value of HCcoreAg preparation has been demonstrated, for the rapid variant of indirect solid-phase enzy me immunoassay among other tests.