Matched Antigen Pairs for HCV Serology Test

Compared to traditional indirect assays, the double-antigen sandwich ELISA displays higher specificity and better sensitivity. With years of experience in production of proteins and antigens, Creative Diagnostics now can provide our customers matched antigen pairs of HCV with high-quality and cheaper price for the development of double-antigen sandwich ELISA.

Background

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a member of the Flaviviridae family, genus hepacivirus. HCV causes hepatitis C, a liver disease, and can ultimately result in liver cirrhosis, hepatic failure or hepatocellular carcinoma. More than 170 million people were injected by HCV all over the world and hundreds of thousands of them were dead for this each year. HCV is an enveloped small virus with the particle size of 55-65nm. HCV genome consists of a positive-sense single-stranded RNA. The viral genome was covered by an icosahedral capsid. The HCV genome ORF (open reading frames) encodes at least 11 proteins, including 3 structural proteins (Core, E1 and E2) and eight nonstructural proteins (p7, NS2, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, NS5A, NS5B, and F).

Fig. 1 Structure of HCV (Moriishi K, et al. 2012)

• Core protein is released as a precursor with 191 AA residues, and then will be cut into multiple variants (17-23kDa). It contains three domains as predicted by different theories: the N-terminal hydrophilic domain (Domain D1, 120 AA), the C-terminal hydrophobic domain (Domain D2, 50 AA) and the last peptide (about 20 AA) serves as a signal for the downstream protein E1.
• The N-terminal one-third of NS3 contains the protease activity responsible for processing of the non-structural region of the polyprotein and some cellular proteins. The C-terminal two-thirds of NS3 is an RNA helicase of the DExH family.
• NS4B is an integral membrane protein that is required for assembly of the “membranous web,” the organelle used for RNA replication. NS4A is a cofactor for NS3 that directs the localization of NS3 and modulates its enzymatic activities.
• NS5B is the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. NS5A is a phosphoprotein capable of specifically interacting with the 3'-NTR of the HCV genome, other non-structural proteins, and numerous cellular proteins. NS5A also functions in virus assembly.