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Tobias Allander, Aster Beyene, Stefan H. Jacobson, Lena Grillner, Mats A. A. Persson, Patients Infected with the Same Hepatitis C Virus Strain Display Different Kinetics of the Isolate-Specific Antibody Response, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 175, Issue 1, January 1997, Pages 26–31, https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/175.1.26
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Abstract
The antibody response to the hypervariable region of the E2 protein (HVR1) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was studied in 5 patients who were infected by a common virus strain during an outbreak in a hemodialysis unit. Two patients resolved the infection, while 3 developed chronic HCV infection. For studying the antibody response to HVRl during the early phase of infection, a Western blot assay using recombinant phage displaying HVRl was developed. The 2 patients with resolving infection had a more rapid antibody response to HVRl than did the patients developing chronic infection. Anti-HVR1 antibodies were repeatedly absent in 1 of the chronically infected patients. Antibodies to recombinant E2 protein occurred later than the anti-HVR1 antibodies and did not correlate with resolution of the infection. Thus, the present results suggest that early appearance of antibodies to the HVRl may predict clearance of HCV infection.