ANTI-ENVELOPE ANTIBODIES IN ANTI-HEPATITIS-C VIRUS (HCV) POSITIVE PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT LIVER-DISEASE

Our aim was to verify whether the presence of antibodies to HCV envelo pe protein might mark the occurrence of liver damage, as recently sugg ested in the literature. Sera from 104 patients (62 male, 42 female) w ere tested: 84 were positive and 20 were negative to a second generati on enzyme immunoassay for anti-HCV antibodies; 51 patients had mild ch ronic liver disease (44 chronic hepatitis, seven steatosis), 43 had li ver cirrhosis (superimposed by hepatocellular carcinoma in 18) and ten were asymptomatic anti-HCV positive subjects with normal liver functi on tests. Besides, all sera were tested by means of an enzyme immunoas say for the presence of serum antibodies to the synthetic peptide S24A (SIYPGHVSGH RMAWDMMMNW SPTA) derived from amino acids 307-330 of HCV polyprotein. Anti-S24A antibodies were detected in 40/84 sera positive and 1/20 negative at anti-HCV testing (Pearson chi(2) 12.29; p=0.005) . Among anti-HCV positive sera, no significant difference existed in a nti-S24A status with regard to clinical evidence of liver disease, ALT concentration or HCV RNA positivity. Thus, anti-S24A antibodies are d etectable in approximately half of HCV-positive sera, but they do not seem to add significant clinical information to existing tests or to b e useful as putative markers of viraemia.