ASSOCIATION OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS CARRIER STATE WITH THE OCCURRENCE OFHEPATITIS-C VIRUS CORE ANTIBODIES

An enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was developed for the determination of ant ibodies against the "putative" core protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) . Antigens used were recombinant fragments (amino acids 6-77 or 6-143) of the HCV core protein, produced in Escherichia coli with truncated hepatitis B core (HBc) as fusion protein. Evaluation of 385 sera posit ive for HCV antibodies by first generation EIA, revealed 98 (25.4%) wi th HCV core antibodies. HCV-RNA, determined by the polymerase chain re action (PCR), was exclusively found in the sera positive for HCV core antibodies (89 PCR positives). In random screening of 3,708 sera, 3 se ra with HCV core antibodies were found PCR positive. Only 2 of these s era were positive in the first generation EIA. It is concluded that HC V core antibody determination is a reliable test for identifying HCV c arriers among blood donors.