A Recombinant Multiepitope Protein for Hepatitis B Diagnosis

Hepatitis B is a liver inflammation caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) and can be diagnosed in clinical stage by hepatitis B core antibody from IgM class (anti-HBcIgM). Hepatitis B core antibody from IgG class (Anti-HBcIgG) appears quickly after IgM, reaching high titers in chronic hepatitis, and remains even after cure. Since hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) is the first antibody identified and sometimes the only marker detected during the course of infection, it can be used both to indicate HBV acute infection (anti-HBc-IgM) and to identify individuals who have come into contact with the virus (anti-HBc-IgG). In this work we propose a recombinant hepatitis B core multiepitope antigen (rMEHB) to be used for diagnosis of hepatitis B. For this purpose, a synthetic gene coding for rMEHB was designed and cloned into vector pET21a with a 6xHis tag at the C-terminal. Time course induction in E. coli showed an induced protein with an apparent molecular mass of ~21 kDa. Protein purification was performed by a single step with affinity chromatography Ni-NTA. Circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated rMEHB as a thermal stable protein at pH 7.0 and 8.0. In these conditions rMEHB was successfully used to perform an enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) with positive and negative sera.