RELATION BETWEEN REACTIVITY TO THE NS-4 REGION PEPTIDES OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS (HCV) AND CLINICAL-FEATURES AMONG PATIENTS INFECTED WITH HCV GENOTYPE 1B

Nearly all patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype Ib have reactivity to the core (c22-3) or non-structural (NS)-3 region (c 33c) protein in a second-generation recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA -2), However, reactivities to the NS-4 region antigens (5-1-1, c100-3) vary among patients. To clarify whether differences in serological re activities to the NS-4 antigens are associated with the clinical featu res or response to interferon (IFN) therapy of patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b, we clinically investigated 115 su ch patients. Positive reactions to 5-1-1 and c100-3 were seen in 75.7 and 79.1%, respectively, of the patients. There were no differences be tween the patients with and those without antibodies to NS-4 region an tigens (5-1-1, c100-3) with regard to age, duration of HCV infection, severity of liver disease and virus load. Fifty-one of the patients we re treated with recombinant IFN-alpha, and 17 of the 51 patients showe d sustained response to the therapy. The sustained response was more f requently seen in the patients positive for antibodies to both 5-1-1 a nd c100-3 as compared with those negative for either or both antibodie s (41.0% vs. 8.3%, P < 0.05).