A 24 kD protein specific for binding to HCV epitotes which can be used for diagnosis and treatment of HCV related diseases

摘要

A use of a protein having a molecular weight of 24kD and capable of specifically binding to a protein of hepatitis C virus for treating HCV infection. The method of preparing the protein is characterised by: 1. Culturing plasma cells exhibiting binding to a HCV protein and purifying the protein from the preparation of the cells; 2. The cells are selected and cloned to provide for overexpression of the protein; 3. Subjecting the preparation to ammonium sulphate precipitation to ammonium sulphate at less than 33% saturation and retaining the supernatant; 4. Subjecting the supernatant to an ammonium sulphate precipitation (33 and 50%) purification step and retaining the precipitate; 5. Resuspending the precipitate and subjecting it to hydrophobic interaction chromatography. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram describing an assay in which HCV receptor-binding ligands bind to receptors on HCV receptor target cells and are measured by first binding a labeled anti-rabbit IgG-FITC F(ab') fragment prior to cell separation by FACScan analysis.