Study of antibody recognition pattern of HCV by western blot method

HCV is a positive strand RNA virus, and is a member of the Family Flaviviridie. HCV show substantial nucleotide sequence variability distributed throughout the viral genome, particularly the HVR1 region that is suggested to be immunogenic in humans. HVR1 is the most heterogeneous region within the E2 genome and peptide corresponding to this region, can be detected by homologous sera. To study the serum reactivity to peptides obtained from HVR1 region of the E2 region of the HCV genome, western blot can be performed in place of Enzyme-Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA), if the expressed recombinant protein is insoluble & cannot be extracted or purified from the host cell.