Detection of anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies by ELISA using synthetic peptides

摘要

A novel ELISA assay for the detection of anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies in the sera of infected individuals is described. This assay is based on a mixture of three 15-amino acid synthetic peptides encompassing regions of core and NS4 proteins of hepatitis C virus. Comparison with other available ELISA assays based on recombinant polypeptides shows that, short synthetic peptides have the advantage over some larger recombinant peptides by giving higher specificity without loss of sensitivity.