Preparation of human single chain Fv antibody against hepatitis C virus E2 protein and its identification in immunohistochemistry

AIM: To screen human single chain Fv antibody (scFv)against hepatitis C virus E2 antigen and identify its applicationin immunohistochemistry.METHODS: The phage antibody library was panned by HCVE2 antigen, which was coated in microtiter plate. After fiverounds of biopanning,56 phage clones were identified specificto HCV E2 antigen. The selected scFv clones were digestedby SfiI/NotI and DNA was sequenced. Then it was subclonedinto the vector pCANTABSE for expression as E-taggedsoluble scFv. The liver tissue sections from normal personand patients with chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis Cwere immunostained with HCV E2 scFv antibody.RESULTS: The data of scFv-E2 DNA digestion and DNAsequencing showed that the scFv gene is composed of 750bp. ELISA and immunohistochemistry demonstrated that thehuman single chain Fy antibody against hepatitis C E2 antigenhas a specific binding character with hepatitis virus E2 antigenand paraffin-embedded tissue, but did not react with liver tissuesfrom healthy persons or patients with chronic hepatitis B.CONCLUSION: We have successfully screened andidentified HCV E2 scFv and the scFv could be used in theimmunostaining of liver tissue sections from patients withchronic hepatitis C.

Full-length core sequence dependent complex-type glycosylation of hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein

AIM: To study HCV polyprotein processing is important for the understanding of the natural history of HCV and the design of vaccines against HCV. The purpose of this study is to investigate the affection of context sequences on hepatitis C virus (HCV) E2 processing. METHODS: HCV genes of different lengths were expressed and compared in vaccinia virus/T7 system with homologous patient serum S94 and mouse anti-serum M( E2116) raised against E.coli -derived E2 peptide, respectively.Deglycosylation analysis and GNA ( Galanthus nivalus ) lectin binding assay were performed to study the post-translational processing of the expressed products. RESULTS: E2 glycoproteins with different molecular weights (-75 kDa and -60 kDa) were detected using S94 and M( E2116), respectively. Deglycosylation analysis showed that this difference was mainly due to different glycosylation. Endo H resistance and its failure to bind to GNA lectin demonstrated that the higher molecular weight form (75 kDa) of E2 was complex-type glycosylated, which was readily recognized by homologous patient serum S94. Expression of complex-type glycosylated E2 could not be detected in all of the core-truncated constructs tested, but readily detected in constructs encoding full-length core sequences. CONCLUSION: The upstream conserved full-length core coding sequence was required for the production of E2 glycoproteins carrying complex-type N-glycans which reacted strongly with homologous patient serum and therefore possibly represented more mature forms of E2. As complex-type N-glycans indicated modification by Golgi enzymes, the results suggest that the presence of full-length core might be critical for E1/E2 complex to leave ER. Our data may contribute to a better understanding of the processing of HCV structural proteins as well as HCV morphogenesis.

E2 GLYCOPROTEIN OF GENOTYPE Ⅲ CHINESE ISOLATES OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS EXPRESSED IN MAMMALIAN CELL AS ANTIGEN FOR ANTI-E2 ANTIBODY DETECTION

Expression vector inserted with E2/NS1 gene derived from genotype Ⅲ Chinese isolates of HCV was transfected into mammalian cells to express E2 glycoprotein. Expressed protein was used as antigen for an- ti-E2 antibody detection in 19 cases of hepatitis C patients by Western blot. It was first to express E2 gly- coprotein of genotype Ⅲ Chinese hepatitis C virus isolates. For anti-E2 detection, 14 cases of patients were positive of antibodies against E2(73. 7 % ). These results indicated that E2 glycoprotein expressed in mam-malian cells had good immunogenicity and cross reactivity to serum infected with genotype Ⅱ Chinese hep-atitis C virus isolates.