Cloning, expression and identification by immunohistochemistry of humanized single-chain variable fragment antibody against hepatitis C virus core protein.

Expression of single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies on the surface of bacteriophage is widely used to prepare antibodies with pre-defined specificities. A phage antibody library containing the gene for scFv antibody against Hepatitis C virus core protein was panned with core protein immobilized on microtiter plate wells. After five rounds of panning 60 phage clones specific to core protein were obtained and one selected clone was sequenced. It was found that the specifically detected antigen consists of 774bp and is capable of encoding 257 amino acids in the patients but not in healthy persons.