Abstract
The N-terminal end of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope glycoprotein E2 contains a stretch of 27 amino acids that exhibit increased variability. This hypervariable region 1 (HVR-1), as it is normally referred to, is thought to contain epitopes that come under humoral immune attack. In the present study, 10 patients (5 children and 5 adults) with humoral immune defects and chronic HCV infection were investigated, to see how HVR-1 sequences behave over time in these patients who are unable to produce antibodies. Amplicons of this region showed little or no variation at all over time, indicating that quasispecies variation in this region is driven by the host's humoral immune response.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 350-356 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Medical Virology |
Volume | 69 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2003 |
Keywords
- Agammaglobulinaemia
- Common variable immunodeficiency disease
- Hepatitis C virus
- Hypervariable region 1
- XLA