TY - JOUR T1 - Development of a Recombinant Based ELISA using Specific Antibodies to F Protein in HCV Chronically Infected Patients-A Seroprevalence Study TT - JF - virusj JO - virusj VL - 4 IS - 1 UR - http://journal.isv.org.ir/article-1-46-en.html Y1 - 2010 SP - 1 EP - 6 KW - Hepatitis C virus KW - HCV F protein KW - Alternative reading frame protein N2 - Background and Aims: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) F protein is a recently described, frameshift product of HCV core encoding sequence. Its function and antigenic properties are unknown. In order to assess the presence of antibodies specific for F protein we characterized specific anti-F antibodies in patients with chronic HCV infection. Methods: The F protein was cloned from the HCV genome. The recombinant protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by immunoaffinity chromatography. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed using the purified recombinant HCV F protein. Results: Serum samples were collected from 72 patients with chronic HCV infection and from 30 healthy controls. Eighty-two percent of chronic HCV patients had evidence of anti-F antibodies. 59 samples out of the 72 HCV infected patients exhibited a positive anti-F reaction, showing significant difference from the controls with no HCV infection (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Based on these findings, HCV F protein elicits a specific antibody response, so frameshift could occur in the core-coding sequence in HCV genotype 1a in Iranian patients. As the first report, the prevalence of anti-F antibodies in chronic hepatitis C in Iran is of the order of 82%. M3 10.21859/isv.4.1.1 ER -