ANTIBODIES AGAINST TICK-BORNE ENCEPHALITIS-VIRUS (TBEV) NONSTRUCTURALAND STRUCTURAL PROTEINS IN HUMAN SERA AND SPINAL-FLUID

Western immunoblotting of the serum and spinal fluid of patients with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) revealed the presence of antibodies agai nst non-structural and internal virion proteins. Antibodies against di fferent viral proteins have been shown to appear 8 days postinfection and to circulate for more than 2 months in case of acute TBE. Antibodi es against structural glycoprotein E and non-structural glycoprotein N S1 do not prevail over antibodies against other kinds of viral protein s. The large viral non-structural proteins NS5 and NS3 and small hydro phobic proteins NS2A and NS4B can cause an effective immune response a s well. There is no strong correlation between immune response spectru m and fever or meningitis forms of disease. However, sera of patients with chronic TBE contained IgM antibodies to virus-specific proteins m ore than 1 year later and IgG antibodies with very low titers (if any) .