THE SEROLOGY OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS (HCV) INFECTION - ANTIBODY CROSS-REACTION IN THE HYPERVARIABLE REGION-1

We determined the NS1/E2 N-terminal sequence including the hypervariab le region 1 (HVR1) from five individuals chronically infected with HCV : two from the Czech Republic and three from Germany. From each sequen ce, six 12-mer overlapping peptides were synthesized and used in a pep tide scan to evaluate seroreactivity of each of those patients, as wel l as three anti-HCV positive blood donors to the different isolates. W e could show the general presence of antibodies to multiple HVR1 speci fic sequences reflecting the existence of multiple variants in infecte d persons. Finally, we observed the persistance of HCV infections in a ll individuals despite an active humoral response directed against the virus.