Serological responses to different genotypes of hepatitis C virus in France

The relationship between hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and antibody status was studied in 104 chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis patients and asymptomatic HCV-infected blood donors. On the basis of amplification of the nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) coding region by PCR and hybridization with specific probes, 55 and 42 patients were identified as being infected with type I and type II, respectively, according to the classification by H. Okamoto, K. Kurai, S. Okada, K. Yamamoto, H. Lizuka, T. Tanaka, S. Fukuda, F. Tsudaand, and S. Mishiro (Virology 188:331-341, 1992). All samples were tested for antibodies to 5.1.1, C-100, C-33, and C-22 proteins by a second-generation recombinant immunoblot assay. Among 97 patients with known HCV genotypes, 31 of 42 patients infected with type II and 24 of 55 infected with type I had antibodies against all four antigens (P < 0.01). In the type II-infected group, more patients had detectable antibodies to 5.11, C-33, and C-22 proteins than in the type I group (P < 0.05). No difference was found in the serological response to C-100 between the two groups.