MAPPING OF LINEAR B-CELL EPITOPES ON OPEN READING FRAMES 2-ENCODED AND 3-ENCODED PROTEINS OF HEPATITIS-E VIRUS USING SYNTHETIC PEPTIDES

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of non-A, non-B hepatit is which is transmitted by the fecal-oral route and occurs principally in the form of large epidemics and outbreaks in developing countries. Two overlapping synthetic peptides corresponding to overlapping DNA s equences of the ORF 3 of HEV genome were found to be immunoreactive wi th sera from patients involved in two epidemics of enterically transmi tted non-A, non-B hepatitis. The results suggested the existence of tw o distinct epitopes. The four synthetic peptides representing these tw o epitopes from Burma and Mexico strains of hepatitis E virus, were us ed to investigate anti-HEV reactivities. HEV antibodies were detected in 84-88% of HEV-infected individuals according to the peptide used. T he results suggest that a peptide-based ELISA can provide an accurate tool for the diagnosis of acute hepatitis type E.