CHARACTERIZATION OF HCV STRUCTURAL PROTEINS EXPRESSED IN VARIOUS ANIMAL-CELLS

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a main causative agent for transfusion-asso ciated and sporadic cases of non-A, non-B hepatitis throughout the wor ld. HCV has a positive-strand RNA of about 9,400 nucleotides as its ge nome, whose organization is similar to those of animal pestiviruses or human flaviviruses. In spite of the lack of an effective replication system in tissue culture cells, genes coding for viral proteins of HCV have been identified. The putative nucleocapsid (p22) and envelope (g p35 and gp60) proteins have been expressed in cells by different vecto rs under various foreign promoters. Furthermore, a truncated core prot ein and association of envelope proteins with nonstructural proteins h ave also been observed. These synthesized viral proteins have been sho wn to be useful for diagnostic assays.