Figure 1
From: Clearance of low levels of HCV viremia in the absence of a strong adaptive immune response
Biochemical, virological and immunological course of acute hepatitis C in asymptomatic patients with spontaneous clearance: patients with spontaneous clearance in the absence of anti-HCV. HCV-RNA levels, ALT levels and T cell responses are shown. Coloured bars show the sum of SI values of the proliferation assay and the sum of specific interferon-gamma spots (spots in the presence of antigen – spots in the medium control) against 5 individual HCV proteins (HCV-core, HCV-NS3, HCV-helicase, HCV-NS4, HCV-NS5a). In addition, the number of individual proteins tested positive at the respective time point is shown for each assay. Interferon gamma ELISPOT responses were also tested against a panel of synthetic peptides representing class I and class II T cell epitopes derived from conserved regions of HCV with a cumulative HLA coverage > 85%. These assays were performed in an independent second laboratory ("Pep-Screen ELISPOT"; Vienna lab). The number of peptides tested positive in this assay is also given.