Complete genomic sequences for hepatitis C virus subtypes 6e and 6g isolated from Chinese patients with injection drug use and HIV-1 co-infection

In one of our recent studies, two HCV genotype 6 variants were identified in patients from Hong Kong and Guangxi in southern China, with injection drug use and HIV-1 co-infection. We report the complete genomic sequences for these two variants: GX004 and

High prevalence of HIV-1 and hepatitis C virus coinfection among injection drug users in the southeastern region of Yunnan, China

The southeastern region of Yunnan province is a key site for drug trafficking and HIV-1 infection spread from the west of Yunnan and Laos to southeastern China. To investigate the prevalence of HIV-1 infection and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection among injection drug users (IDUs) in southeastern Yunnan, three cohorts of 285 addicts, including 242 IDUs and 43 oral drug users, living in the cities of Gejiu and Kaiyuan and the county of Yanshan were studied. HIV-1 and HCV infections were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and/or polymerase chain reaction. Data on the age, sex, risk behavior, drug use history, employment, ethnic background, and marriage status were obtained by interview. The overall prevalence of HIV-1 infection was 71.9%. The rate of HCV coinfection among 138 HIV-1-infected IDUs was 99.3%. Most HIV-infected IDUs were 20 to 35 years old (86.7%) and were ethnic Han (75.9%), suggesting that the epidemic in Yunnan is no longer confined to non-Han ethnic minorities, HIV prevalence in female IDUs (81.2%) was significantly higher than in male IDUs (68.2%) (p <.05). The prevalence of HIV infection reached 68.4% after 1 year of injection drug use. Needle/syringe sharing is the major high risk factor for the spread of HIV-1 and HCV infections. Large-scale educational campaigns are urgently needed to reduce the spread of HIV and HCV infection in these regions.

Detection of hepatitis B virus markers using a biosensor based on imaging ellipsometry

A biosensor based on imaging ellipsometry (BIE) has been developed and validated in 169 patients for detecting five markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The methodology has been established to pave the way for clinical diagnosis, including ligand screening, determination of the sensitivity, set-up of cut-off values (CoVs) and comparison with other clinical methods. A matrix assay method was established for ligand screening. The CoVs of HBV markers were derived with the help of receiver operating characteristic curves. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was the reference method. Ligands with high bioactivity were selected and sensitivities of 1 ng/mL and 1 IU/mL for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and surface antibody (anti-HBs) were obtained respectively. The CoVs of HBsAg, anti-HBs, hepatitis B e antigen, hepatitis B e antibody and core antibody were as follows: 15%, 18%, 15%, 20% and 15%, respectively, which were the percentages over the values of corresponding ligand controls. BIE can simultaneously detect up to five markers within 1 h with results in acceptable agreement with ELISA, and thus shows a potential for diagnosing hepatitis B with high throughput.

Stability and molecular modeling of triplex DNA inhibiting DNA binding protein binding to the core promoter of hepatitis B virus.

Two three-dimensional structure models of the 21nt oligodeoxyribonucleotides, CPI (G3TG-2TGT2G5TG2TGT) and CP3 (TGTG2TGST2GTG2TG3), were constructed by InsightII (MSI) software in IRIS Indigo2 (SGI) workstation using the crystal structure of TAT tripler formation as the template. The initial structures subsequently were minimized by molecular mechanics. The final structures were believed as the dominant conformation. The results showed that the energy of CP1 is lower than that of CP3, and the former is more stable than the latter. Moreover, the results further proved that the 21nt oligodeoxyribo-nucleotide CP1 stably combines with the core promoter (Cp) fragment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) to form a tripler DNA, and CP1 specifically inhibits a specific cellular factor (DNA binding protein) binding to Cp fragment. These results indicated that specific repression of gene transcription of HBV DNA might be possible by tripler-formation DNA.

丙型肝炎病毒基因和蛋白结构研究进展

　估计全球约有117 亿人口感染丙型肝炎,是一种严重影 响人类健康的传染病。丙型肝炎的病原为丙型肝炎病毒 (Hepatitis C Virus ,HCV) 。1989 年Choo 等人首先获得HCV 基因组的cDNA 全序列,使HCV 成为病毒学史上第一个首先 通过基因克隆技术确认的病毒〔1 ,2〕。此后,HCV 的分子生物 学研究进展迅速。现将HCV 病毒分子结构的最新研究状况 做一综述。

丙型肝炎病毒(HCV)株的全基因组序列测定: 完成HCV 基因型6 全套17 个亚型基因组的测序

丙型肝炎病毒（Hepatitis C virus, HCV）的全基因组序列测定，曾经由于许多方面 的条件限制而难于完成。但是，其对于研究HCV 分子病毒学、流行病学、进化和致 病性却至关重要，特别是在临床应用中，不同序列的基因型决定α-干扰素治疗的不同 效果。在本研究完成之前，HCV 基因型6 仅有6 个亚型有其全基因组序列。因此， 本研究的主要目的在于，测定HCV 变异株代表基因型6 其余的11 个亚型和新亚型的 全基因组序列，并深入分析。 本研究从样品分别来自于中国、泰国，和在美国及加拿大生活的东南亚国家移民 的HCV 感染者。因为样品有限，改良传统的PCR 方法，摸索出“桥”和“岛”DNA 全序列扩增法，从每例样品100μl 血清或从100μl 血清中获得的cDNA 中测定了13 个HCV 全基因组核苷酸序列。 以来源于Genbank 的已知基因型6 的七个全长序列为参考对所测定的13 个亚型 全序列进行共同分析显示，这些全基因组核苷酸的两两比较相似率变化范围为 71.9%--82.7%，著地， 这四对序列间的相同率高于标准定义的HCV 基因亚型之间的 范围值75%-80%。为了进一步理解和证实这些亚型间的遗传相似性，本研究还测定 了代表这4 对亚型的病毒原型株的全基因序列，结果显示了相同的核苷酸水平上的变 异范围，这为HCV 基因亚型的分类提供了新的认识，亦强调了全长序列对于分类的 重要性。 从系统发育方面的分析证实，本研究所测得的13 个分离株都属于基因型6。在系 统发育树上，每个病毒株代表一个独立的枝。并形成了高度分化的HCV 基因型6 分 枝，从而清楚显示，各亚型的独立分布。本研究至此完成了基因型6 中17 个亚型的 全序列测定，而km41 和gz52557 因缺乏其临床上和流行病学上的多个感染病例的证 实，而继续保留其亚型未命名状态。结合来源于Los Alamos HCV database 的基因型6 的已知部分序列的变异株进一步分析，发现各相近亚型变异株均来自东南亚或东南亚国家移民，这提示了这些HCV 的相同感染源。 为了探讨HCV 夫妻间传播的可能性，本研究还测定了来自于泰国的两位感染 HCV 的献血员及其感染HCV 的配偶。这4 个基因序列C-0044 和C-0046 之间核苷 酸相同率为98.1%，而C-0185 和 C-0192 之间为97.8%。文献研究感染HCV 的夫妇 间的部分亚基因序列的相同率为96.3%至100%，本研究结果与此范围相符，并第一 次用全基因组序列提示了HCV 在夫妻间传播的可能性。 本研究还测定了基因型6 的另一个变异株的全基因组序列：HK6554，香港的某患 者，与上文中的GX004 一起，均为静脉吸毒者，并共同感染了HCV 和HIV-1。分析 结果还表明了一种趋势，即是在中国南方，基因亚型6e 有从以前的地方性传播方式 转为现有的流行性传播方式。这种转变可能由于静脉吸毒感染HCV 的人群的网络传 播而加快。 综上，本研究用传统PCR、简并引物结合链特异引物的方法有效地测定了共21 个病毒株的全基因序列。该方法也可用于其它分子流行病学的研究，特别在测定珍贵 的病毒序列然而样品量又受限时。本研究所测定的全基因组序列代表HCV 中最古老、 分化最多、地方性传播、又可能动物源性的基因型6 的全套17 个亚型。这有助于进 一步理解HCV 基因亚型的分类意义、更准确评价HCV 的进化和起源，亦有助于发 现HCV 新的变异株和提高临床诊断、治疗，为将来HCV 的流行及公众健康的预测、 预防和疫苗的制备奠定了坚实的分子遗传学基础。

Application of impedance spectroscopy for monitoring colloid Au-enhanced antibody immobilization and antibody-antigen reactions

We used colloidal An to enhance the amount of antibody immobilized on a gold electrode and ultimately monitored the interaction of antigen-antibody by impedance measurement. Self-assembly of 6 nm (diameter) colloidal An onto the self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 4-aminothiophenol modified gold electrode resulted in an easier attachment of antibody. The redox reactions of [Fe(CN)(6)](4-)/[Fe(CN)(6)](3-) on the gold surface were blocked due to the procedures of self-assembly of 4-aminothiophenol and antibody immobilization, which were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The interaction of antigen with grafted antibody recognition layers was carried out by soaking the modified electrode into a phosphate buffer at pH 7.4 with various concentrations of antigen at 37 degreesC for 30 min. The antibody recognition layers and their interactions with various concentrations of antigen could be detected by measurements of the impedance change. The results show that this method has good correlation for detection of Hepatitis B virus surface antigen in the range of 0.5-200 mug/l and a detection limit of about 50 ng/l.