Methods and compositions for differential diagnosis of acute and chronic hepatitis c virus infection

Abstract

The present invention provides antigenic peptides which bind anti-HCV antibodies for the differential diagnosis of acute and chronic HCV infection. The invention further provides a method of differentiating acute and chronic hepatitis C virus infection in a subject comprising: a) contacting an antibody-containing sample from the subject with one or more of the peptides selected from the group consisting of peptide 59, comprising the amino acids AFASRGNHVSPTHYVPESDA (SEQ ID NO:1), peptide 137, comprising the amino acids MNRLIAFASRGNHVSPTHYV (SEQ ID NO:2) and peptide 138, comprising the amino acids SRGNHVSPTHYVPESDAAAR (SEQ ID NO:3) under conditions that permit binding between the peptide and the antibodies; b) detecting the presence of binding between the peptide and the antibodies; c) contacting the antibody-containing sample from the subject with an amount of peptide 139, comprising the amino acids NHVSPTHYVPESDAAARVTA (SEQ ID NO:4) under conditions that permit binding between the peptide and the antibodies; d) detecting the presence of binding between the peptide and the antibodies; and comparing the strength of the antibody binding of step b) with the strength of the antibody binding of step d), a stronger binding in step b) as compared to the binding in step d) indicating acute hepatitis C virus infection and an equivalent binding in both steps b) and d) indicating chronic hepatitis C virus infection. The present invention further provides a method of diagnosing a hepatitis C virus infection in a subject comprising contacting an antibody containing sample from the subject with a peptide comprising the amino acids SPTHYV (SEQ ID NO:5) and determining the presence of binding between the peptide and the antibodies from the sample, the presence of binding between the peptide and the antibodies indicating a hepatitis C virus infection.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.