Hepatitis C virus(HCV)

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV),which is very harmful to health and life. Hepatitis C is preventable and treatable. Hepatitis C virus can be transmitted through blood,sexual contact,mother and baby.

HCV virions are spherical and single stranded positive strand RNA viruses. The total length of HCV-RNA is about 9.6kb,and its genome is composed of structural (core,envelope) and non structural (protease,helicase,enzyme cofactor) proteins and non coding regions. The open reading frame (ORF) located in the center of the gene encodes a precursor polyprotein of morethan3000 amino acids,which is cleaved into 10 HCV proteins with independent functions by the protease action of the host and virus. According to different functions,it is named core protein (c),envelope protein 1,2 (E1,E2),P7 and non structural proteins NS2,NS3,NS4A,NS4B,NS5A and NS5B.

Among them,HCV core region is the target gene region for HCV genotyping and serotyping,and it is also an important region for HCV infection treatment and vaccine research at the gene level. Moreover,the core region gene is the most conserved,and its encoded antigen has the strongest immunity. The corresponding antibodies of core and NS3 antigens appear early,distribute widely,and have strong affinity. Therefore,core and NS3 proteins have become the main raw materials of blood screening diagnostic reagents nowadays. The antigens used in current inspection methods are core,NS3,NS4 and NS5 antigens expressed by recombinant Escherichia coli.