[A study on the patterns of early specific antibody response in patients with posttransfusion hepatitis C]

Techniques of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on synthetic multiple peptide fragments and second generation recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) were used to study the patterns of specific antibody response in 10 cases of posttransfusion hepatitis (PTH) during a period of 36-38 weeks after blood transfusion. Nine cases were positive with serum anti-HCV, including 8 cases positive with serum HCV-RNA. Antibodies to core protein of HCV showed a higher positive rate and were detected 1-3 weeks earlier than those to the putative nonstructural (NS) protein. Anti-HCV IgM to core protein were detected 1-4 weeks earlier than anti-HCV IgG and the detective absorbent values of anti-HCV IgM were positively correlated with the levels of serum ALT (P < 0.01). "Passive transfer" of anti-HCV were found in 3 cases. These facts suggest that HCV is the major causative agent of PTH cases in our district and anti-HCV IgM to core protein is a putative serological marker not only for early diagnosis of HCV infection but also for demonstration of active HCV infection.