DETECTION OF NON-A,NON-B HEPATITIS ASSOCIATED ANTIGEN

Abstract: In the detection of the highly transmittable agent of non-A, non-B hepatitis, a method utilizing antigen-antibody reaction and a preferred counterelectrophoresis method for the detection of said antigen. The method may be applied as in the recipients of blood donors where the blood donor had transmitted by transfusions and also may be applied to screen-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen several years previously or there was at least a 1-5 year retrospective period from donating blood to retention of active transmittable agent.

Description: TITLE: DETECTION OP NON-A, NON-B HEPATITIS ASSOCIATED ANTIGEN INTRODUCTION The present invention is concerned with the dis¬ covery of the existence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis associated antigen and this invention is also concerned with the use of this antigen to identify infectious blood donors and to prepare a vaccine. It is realized that in the time span after discovery of the existence by the present inventors, there appeared an article by Shirachi et al, "Hepatitis 'C Antigen in Non-A, Non-B Post- Transfusion Hepatitis," The Lancet, October 21, 1978, pages 853-856. In recent studies non-A, non-B hepatitis has been found to occur in 10 of transfused patients in the United States, resulting in about 200,000 cases per year. Fatalities from non-A, non-B hepatitis in the United States probably number round 1,000 per year among transfusion-related cases. PRIOR ART STATEMENT Shirachi et al, The Lancet, October 21, 1978, pages 853-856- Tabor et al, Viral Hepatitis, eds. G.N. Vyas et al, The Franklin Institute Press, Philadelphia, 1978, pages 419-421. Tabor et al, The Lancet, March 4, 1978, pages 463-466. Tabor et al, Gastroenterology, 76:680-684, 1979- Gocke et al, The Journal of Immunology, 104(4): 1031-1032, April 1970. THE NON-A, NON-B ANTIGEN AND ITS ANTIBODY Many cases of acute and chronic hepatitis which do not result from infection by either hepatitis A virus (HAV) or hepatitis B virus (HBV), are called "non-A, non-B hepatitis," and now account for 89% of cases of post-transfuion hepatitis in the United States. The presence of a transmissible agent in this disease has been demonstrated by its transmission to chimpanzees by the inoculation of serum from humans chronically infected with non-A, non-B hepatitis, and by serial passage to additional chimpanzees. Recently an antigen-antibody system detected by counterelectrophoresis (CEP) was described in humans with post-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis (Shirachi, et al, supra). In the present invention is reported antigen which is detectable by CEP in the serum of chimpanzees during the acute phase of experimentally induced human non-A, non-B hepatitis, an antibody which appears during convalescence, and the detection of this antigen-antibody system in humans with non-A, non-B hepatitis. The activity of the antigen has been shown in counterelectrophoresis (CEP) as well as in a solid phase radioim unoassay. Additionally, human tests showed antigen activity up to 1-5 years after transfusion in the donor. The tests enable blood banks to identify blood donors whose blood may transmit non-A, non-B hepatitis to recipients and eliminate the use of their blood for transfusions This results in a decrease in the incidence of this disease. The test is also used to diagnose non-A, non-B hepatitis in patients. An antigen was detected by counterelectrophoresis in serum samples from six of seven chimpanzees during the acute phase of experimentally induced non-A, non-B hepatitis using antiserum from a chimpanzee convalescent from- human non-A, non-B hepatitis. This antigen could not be detected prior to the transfusion in 35 pre- inoculation serum samples from these chimpanzees, or in 94 weekly bleedings from three chimpanzees with hepatitis A and three chimpanzees with hepatitis B. The antigen was also detected in each of two serum samples obtained from a human with chronic hepa¬ titis whose blood had transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis to a nurse by accidental needlestick and to chimpanzees by experimental inoculation. In addition, the antigen was detected in serum obtained retrospectively from 11 of 31 former blood donors whose blood had transmitted post-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis several years previously to recipients of a single unit of their blood. Antibody to this antigen was detected in conva¬ lescent serum samples from all seven chimpanzees studied, in convalescent serum from the nurse infected by accidental needlestick, and in serum from a hemodialysis patient convalescent from non-A, non-B hepatitis. COUNTERELECTROPHORESIS Counterelectrophoresis (CEP) which may be also described as immunoelectrosmophoresis (IEOP) or immuno- electrodiffusion (IED) or countercurrentelectrophoresis is utilized as follows. Sera stored at -20°C were tested by CEP using 1% agarose (Indubiose A37, L'industrie Biologique Francaise, Gennevillie-rs, Prance) in barbital buffer, pH 8.6, poured onto 3-5 x 12.5 cm glass plates (16 ml per plate). Melted agarose (16 ml) was poured onto a lantern slide. When it had cooled, two rows of holes were punched into the agarose. Antibody was placed in one row of holes and samples to be tested were added to the other row. When testing for antibody, antigen was added to one row and samples in the other row. The lantern slide was placed O PI in a CEP chamber. Paper wicks were used to connect each side of the slide to each of two pools of barbital buffer pH 8.6. An electric current was passed across the plate, 35 milliamps per plate, for one hour. Immunoprecipitin lines were read after 1, 24, and 48 hours of storage in a moist chamber at room temperature. When the test sample was positive, a precipitin line was seen between the rows, using the naked eye with the aid of an electric lamp. RADIOIMMUNOASSAY (RIA) Antibody to the non-A, non-B hepatitis was puri¬ fied by precipitating it from serum using 30 ammonium sulfate. This purified antibody was labeled with radio¬ active iodine using the chloramine-T method. Unpurified antibody was coated on plastic beads. The coated beads were placed in wells of a plastic plate. Samples to be tested for antigen were added to each well. After 18 hours incubation, the excess sample (other than any anti¬ gen which was then attached to the bead) was washed away. The radio-labeled purified antibody was then added to the wells and incubated for three hours; the excess was washed away. The amount of radioactivity adhering to the beads was counted in gamma counter. Positive results were identified by the detection of radioactivity on the beads, in comparison to negative samples. The presence of antibody was determined by adding the sample to be tested to a known antigen-positive serum, and then, following incubation for one hour, testing the mixture for antigen. The presence of antibody was identified by the decrease in radioactive counts compared to the result obtained using the antigen alone. In addition to CEP and RIA used to detect anti¬ gen and antibody, alternate immunological methods may be used to detect the antigen including agar gel OMPI diffusion, passive hemagglutination, latex agglutination, complement fixation, and enzymes linked immuno-sorbent assay. THE ANTIGEN An abbreviated or capsulized description of puri¬ fication for the associated antigen and active subunits is summarized as follows. The non-A, non-B hepatitis associated antigen was purified from serum (or tissue and cell cultures when the agent is propogated) by selection from the following techniques: (1) Fractional (selective) precipitation or solubilization (2) Gel filtration, molecular sieving (3) Chromatographic techniques (affinity, adsorption or ion-exchange chromatography) (4) Density gradient centrifugation (5) Electrophoresis including isotachophoresis and isoelectric focusing (6) Countercurrent distribution Further purification treatments include altera¬ tions in pH, chemical treatments and enzyme treatments. Subunits Immunologically active subunits of the non-A, non-B hepatitis associated antigen have been prepared following preliminary purification of the antigen by a selection from the following: (1) detergent treatment (2) limited hydrolysis (3) reduction Immunologically active polypeptides have been separated here by procedures outlined above. OMPI wivr-. Development of In " Vitro Tests By inducing antibody specific for the non-A, non-B associated antigen in suitable animal species; i.e. chimpanzees, or selecting human sera containing these antibodies, immunologic tests to detect the antigen (such as Agar gel diffusion, counterelectrophoresis, complement fixation, passive hemagglutination, radio- immunoassay or enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay) have been developed and used to (1) detect persons transmittin non-A, non-B hepatitis and (2) identify sources of antige for in vitro tests and vaccine production. Vaccine A direct use of purified antigen or immunologi¬ cally active subunits inactivated by either heat, formali or both may be conventionally utilized as a vaccine. The table below shows a summary of clinical testing. T A B L E 1 Non-A, Non-B Patients Tested Antigen Antibody 54 Normal volunteer blood Not tested donors 3 Humans with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis who trans- mitted the disease to humans and chimpanzees 31 Blood donors who transmitted 11 non-A, non-B hepatitis one to four years previously 12 Humans with non-A, non-B Not tested hepatitis (weekly samples) 2 Humans who recovered from non-A, non-B hepatitis 52 Hemophiliac patients Not tested 59 OMPI EXAMPLE 1 Serum samples were obtained from three humans with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis. Blood from human #1 had caused non-A, non-B hepatitis in a nurse who accidentially cut herself on a piece of glass contami¬ nated with his blood. Humans #2 and #3 had donated blood, and their blood had caused non-A, non-B hepatitis in recipients. Serum from all three (humans #1, #2, and #3) was inoculated into chimpanzees and caused non-A, non-B hepatitis in the chimpanzees. The non-A, non-B hepatitis associated antigen was found in the blood of all three humans. EXAMPLE 2 Serum samples were obtained from 31 blood donors whose blood had caused non-A, non-B hepatitis in patients who had been transfused with a single unit of their blood (and no other blood) one to four years previously. The non-A, non-B hepatitis associated antigen was detected in 11 of these donors. EXAMPLE 3 Serum was tested from 54 normal blood donors. None had the non-A, non-B hepatitis associated antigen. EXAMPLE 4 Five of the 31 implicated blood donors (confer Example 2) had antibody to the non-A, non-B associated antigen, but no detectable antigen. The antibody in these cases indicated the presence of a different state of disease and was also an indication that in some cases their blood would transmit the disease, as it had done previously. EXAMPLE 5 Chimpanzee Studies Weekly serum samples from seven chimpanzees beginning four weeks before inoculation with human non-A, non-B hepatitis were tested. The inoculation and course of infection in these chimpanzees are described in the three Tabor et al articles noted in the Prior Art Statement, supra. Each chimpanzee was infected by intravenous inoculation of serum from one of these humans chronically infected with non-A, non-B hepatitis. Chim¬ panzees #922, #930, #911, #916, and #946 were infecte by inoculation with Inoculum I, or with acute phase serum from a chimpanzee infected by Inoculum I (Inoculum I passage). Chimpanzee #918 was infected by Inoculum II and #919 by Inoculum III. A convalescent serum from each chimpanzee was used as antibody in CEP against that chimpanzee's own weekly serum samples; in three chimpan¬ zees (#922, #918, #919), the convalescent serum was obtained after two intravenous inoculations with infectious serum. In addition, convalescent serum from chimpanzee #922 was used to test all chimpanzee serum samples studied. Results. The antigen was detected in the sera of six of seven chimpanzees during non-A, non-B hepa- titis. In general, the antigen was detected during the time of elevated aminotransferase levels but without a strict correlation with histopathologic changes in liver biopsy specimens. Chimpanzee #922 (Inoculum I) had elevated aminotransferase levels from Week 2 to 16 and had antigen detectable at Weeks 4-9 and at Week 15. Chimpanzee #930 (Inoculum I) had elevated aminotrans¬ ferase levels from Week 3 to 23 and had antigen detectable at Weeks 2-8 (including two serum samples shown to transmit nόn-A, non-B hepatitis to OMPI experimentally inoculated chimpanzees) and at Week 18. Chimpanzee #911 (Inoculum I passage) had elevated aminotransferase levels from Week 5 to 21 and had antigen detectable at Weeks 19 and 20. Chimpanzee #946 (Inoculum I passage) had elevated transferase levels from Week 3 to 11 and had antigen detectable at Weeks 9, 10, 12, and 16. Chimpanzee #918 (Inoculum II) had elevated amino¬ transferase levels from Week 4 to 20 and had antigen detectable at Weeks 6 , 11, 14, and 15. Chimpanzee #919 (Inoculum III) had elevated aminotransferase levels from Week 3 to 20 and had antigen detectable at Week 3- The antigen could not be detected in serum samples from Chimpanzee #916 (Inoculum I passage). The antigen could not be detected in any of 35 pre-inoculation serum samples from these chimpanzees, nor could it be detected in 28 weekly bleedings from three chimpanzees during experimentally induced hepatitis A or in 66 weekly bleedings from three chimpanzees during experimentally induced hepatitis B. Antibody was detected in convalescent serum samples from all seven chimpanzees. Antibody was detected in every serum sample from chimpanzee #922 beginning with Week 28 after inoculation, 13 weeks after the disappear¬ ance of antigen and the return of aminotransferase levels to near normal values. Antibody remained detectable until longer than 19 months after inoculation. Titrations performed on selected serum samples from chimpanzee #922 - before and after a second intravenous exposure to a non-A, non-B hepatitis inoculum (Inoculum III), revealed a four-fold increase in antibody titer. Ammonium sul ate precipitation and DEAE cellulose chromatography revealed the antibody to be in -the 7S (IgG) fraction. EXAMPLE 6 Human serum used as antibody in CEP included convalescent serum from the nurse (Human #1) who had recovered from non-A, non-B hepatitis 4 years earlier after the needlestick exposure to Inoculum I and convalescent serum from a multiply-transfused hemo- dialysis patient with a history of non-A, non-B hepatitis (Human #2). Results. The antibody was detected in convales¬ cent serum from Human #1 and Human #2. Antibody was not detected in any of two serum samples from the patient with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis whose serum became Inoculum I.

Claims: THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS: 1. An immunologic test method for the detection of non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen in mammals comprising reacting a blood serum sample from the mammal to be tested with an antibody derived from the blood serum, . tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to have a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection, utilizing counterelectrophoresis to detect the presence of an immunoprecipitin which would indicate the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen. 2. An immunologic test method for the detection of non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen in mammals comprising reacting a blood serum sample from the mammal to be tested with an antibody derived from the blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to have a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection, utilizing radioimmunoassay techniques to indicate the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen. 3. An immunologic test method for the detection of non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen in mammals comprising reacting a blood serum sample from the mammal to be tested with an antibody derived from the blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to have a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection, utilizing agar gel diffusion techniques to indicate the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen. 4. An immunologic test method for the detection of non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen in mammals comprising reacting a blood serum sample from the mammal to be tested with an antibody derived from the blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to have a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection, utilizing passive hemagglutination techniques to indicate the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen. 5. An immunologic test method for the detection of non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen in mammals comprising reacting a blood serum sample from the mammal to be tested with an antibody derived from the blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to have a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection, utilizing latex agglutination to indicate the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen. 6. An immunologic test method for the detection of non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen in mammals comprising reacting a blood serum sample from the mammal to be tested with an antibody derived from the blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to have a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection, utilizing complement fixation to indicate the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen. 7. An immunologic test method for the detection of non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen in mammals comprising reacting a blood serum sample from the mammal to be tested with an antibody derived from the blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to have a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection, utilizing enzyme linked immunosorbent assay to indicate the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen. 8. The immunologic test method of any one of claims 1 through 7 In which the donor mammal is known to be in a post-acute phase of a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection. 9- The immunologic test method of any one of claims 1 through 7 wherein the donor mammal is known to OMPI be from about 12 to about 60 months past the infectious stage of a non-A, non-B hepatitis infection. 10. The immunologic test method according to any one of claims 1 through 9 wherein the donor mammal is-a chimpanzee or a human being. 11. An immunologic test method according to any one of claims 1 through 1.0 wherein the mammal to be tested is a human being. 12. A vaccine effective against non-A, non-B hepatitis infection in mammals comprising an inactive antigen isolated from a specimen of blood serum, tissue., or a cell culture of a donor mammal known to be infected with non-A, non-B hepatitis. 13- A vaccine effective against non-A, non-B hepatitis infection in mammals comprising an inactive immunologically active polypeptide isolated from specimens of blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture of a donor mammal known to be infected with non-A, non-B hepatitis. 14. A vaccine according to claim 12 in which the antigen has been purified after isolation. 15. A vaccine according to claim 13 in which the immunologically active polypeptide has been purified after isolation. 16. A vaccine according to any one of claims 12 through 15 wherein the donor mammal is a chimpanzee. 17. A vaccine according to any one of claims 12 through 15 wherein the donor mammal is a human being. 18. A method of vaccination against non-A, non-B hepatitis in mammals comprising injection of an immunologically effective amount of the vaccine of any one of claims 12 through 17- 19- The method of claim 18 wherein the mammal to be vaccinated is a human being. 20. A method of preparation for a vaccine effective against non-A, non-B hepatitis infection in mammals comprising: - isolating the antigen associated with non-A, non-B hepatitis from specimens of blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to be infected by non-A, non-B hepatitis; and - inactivating said antigen. 21. The method of claim 20 wherein the antigen is purified before being inactivated by the techniques of: - fractional precipitation; - solubilization; - gel filtration; - molecular sieving; • - affinity, adsorption, or ion-exchange chromato- graph ; - density gradient centrifugation; . - electrophoresis; or - countercurrent distribution. 22. The method of claim 21 wherein the antigen is further purified by at least one of: - alterations in pH; - chemical treatments; and - enzyme treatments. 23. The method of any one of claims 20 through 22 wherein the antigen is inactivated by at least one of: - heat treatment; or - treatment with formalin. 24. A method of preparation for a vaccine effective against non-A, non-B hepatitis infection in mammals comprising: - isolating the antigen associated with non-A, non-B hepatitis from specimens of blood serum, tissue, or a cell culture, taken from a donor mammal known to be infected by non-A, non-B hepatitis; - preliminarily purifying the antigen; - separating immunologically active polypeptides from the antigen by: - detergent treatment, - .limited hydrolysis, or - reduction; and - inactivating said immunologically active poly¬ peptide. 25. The method of claim 24 wherein an immuno¬ logically active polypeptide is purified before being inactivated by the technique of: - fractional precipitation; - solubilization; - gel filtration; - molecular sieving; - affinity, adsorption, or ion-exchange chroma- tography; - density gradient centrifugation; - electrophoresis; or - countercurrent distribution. 26. The method of claim 24 wherein an immuno¬ logically active polypeptide is further purified by at least one of: - alterations in pH; - chemical treatments; and - enzyme treatments. OMPI - 27. The method of any one of claims 24 through 26 wherein an immunologically active polypeptide is inactivated by at least one of: - heat treatment; or - treatment with formalin. OMPI , WIP

Inventors: GERETY R, TABOR E
Applicants: US COMMERCE
Application year: 1980
Main classification: C07G7
IPC codes: A61K39, G01N33