NUCLEIC ACID OCCURRING IN BLOOD FROM HEPATITIS PATIENT, POLYPEPTIDE ENCODED BY THE NUCLEIC ACID, AND USES OF THE SAME

摘要

A substance associated with cryptogenic hepatitis is found and information, particularly genetic information, on the substance is provided. Also, a method for detecting the substance and a material which can be used in the method are provided. A nucleic acid is extracted from each of 500 blood samples which have alanine aminotransferase (ALT) abnormality and are negative for a hepatitis virus marker, and the amplification of the nucleic acid is carried out by using helicase family-reactive helicase primers which have been produced uniquely. As a result, a novel nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO:1) can be obtained, and it is found that the nucleotide sequence occurs at high frequency in cryptogenic hepatitis.