[Antigenic specificity of recombinant polypeptides, containing fragments of hepatitis E virus proteins].

Antigenic specificity of recombinant polypeptides HE40 and HE60 containing fragments of gene ORF2 and ORF3 protein products of hepatitis E, strain Burma, produced in E. coli cells, is analyzed. Blood sera from patients with acute hepatitis from an endemic region in Uzbekistan were tested for IgG to recombinant antigens by solid-phase enzyme immunoassay with a protein fragment coded by PRF3 gene, a synthetic peptide previously characterized in a commercial test system, as the positive control. 93% sera reacting with recombinant polypeptide HE60 and 32% reacting with HE40 reacted with the synthetic peptide. No antibodies to the studied polypeptides were detected in the sera of Moscow patients with hepatitis A, B, or C confirmed by laboratory findings. Antigenic specificity of recombinant polypeptide HE60 was confirmed by competitive enzyme immunoassay with the same peptide as the competitive antigen. Test system based on recombinant polypeptides HE40 and HE60 was used for deciphering the etiological structure of acute viral hepatitis which occurred in a hepatitis E endemic region of Uzbekistan in 1993.