MURINE HUMORAL IMMUNE-RESPONSE AGAINST RECOMBINANT STRUCTURAL PROTEINS OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS DISTINCT FROM THOSE OF PATIENTS

We examined the humoral immune response to recombinant structural prot eins of hepatitis C virus (HCV) such as C, E1 and E2 in immunized mice , Mice showed high induction of antibodies against these three structu ral proteins, Conformational and/or linear epitopes of these regions s howed high responses in mice, Comparison with patients revealed higher anti-E1 and anti-E2 responses in mice and 15 immunoreactive peptides which are unique to mice, especially 11 peptides from the E2 region. T he hydrophilic regions of these proteins were found to be the most imm unogenic, Therefore, the murine immune system against recombinant El a nd E2 glycoproteins was distinct from those of patients in natural inf ection, and may be a target to find protective activity against HCV in fection.