De-Yong Gao1, Xin-Xin Zhang1, Gang Hou1, Gen-Di Jin1, Qiang Deng2, Xiao-Fei Kong3, Dong-Hua Zhang1, Yun Ling1, De-Min Yu3, Qi-Ming Gong3, Qin Zhan3, Bi-Lian Yao3, Zhi-Meng Lu3
1 Department of Infectious Disease, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, School of Medicine,, 2 Shanghai Pasteur Institute, Shanghai, China, 3 Department of Infectious Disease, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, School of Medicine
The hepatitis C virus alternate reading frame protein (ARFP/F) of the 1b genotype is a double-frameshift product of the HCV core protein. We expressed recombinant F and core protein to investigate their clinical relevance, especially in relation to interferon treatment. An ELISA assay was developed using purified recombinant HCV core , F protein , as well as a synthetic F peptide. The prevalence of anti-F antibodies did not correlate with viral load, genotypes, or ALT level. The responding rate of the anti-F negative patients was 100% (15/15), while the responding rate of the anti-F positive patients was only 70% (40/57) before antiviral treatment (P=0.016). After interferon treatment, 24% of the responders (13/55) lost their anti-F antibodies, whereas no change in the antibody titer occurred for the 17 non-responders (p<0.001). HCV F protein elicits a specific antibody response . Specific antibodies to ARFP might influence the efficacy of antiviral treatment in hepatitis C patients.