Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41481431›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

Antibody responses to a highly conserved peptide in HCV E2 protein correlate with chronicity or spontaneous clearance of HCV infection.

Yong He, Lilin Zhong, Anthony Ruvindi DeSilva, Kam Sang Kwok, Lu Deng, Maria Luisa Virata, Hailing Yan, Dorothy Scott, Marian Major, Harvey J Alter and 1 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Yong HeDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
Lilin ZhongDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
Anthony Ruvindi DeSilvaDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
Kam Sang KwokDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
Lu DengDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.ORCID 0000-0002-3691-8820
Maria Luisa VirataDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.ORCID 0000-0002-5559-5174
Hailing YanDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
Dorothy ScottDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
Marian MajorDivision of Viral Products, Office of Vaccines Research and Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
Harvey J AlterDepartment of Transfusion Medicine, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.ORCID 0000-0003-3128-5056
Pei ZhangDivision of Plasma Derivatives, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Office of Therapeutic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993.ORCID 0000-0002-0572-2614

Funding

Study was funded by the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research of the US Food and Drug Administration. No grant reference number applicable
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection frequently progresses to chronicity rather than spontaneous clearance, resulting in severe liver diseases including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The molecular mechanisms governing infection outcomes remain poorly understood. We identified Peptide A, a highly conserved epitope (residues 442 to 451) within HCV glycoprotein E2, and demonstrated that differential antibody binding patterns to this region correlate with distinct infection outcomes. This immunogenic, nonneutralizing epitope localizes to a structurally exposed region that shares residue 442 as a boundary with the previously characterized Epitope II (residues 430 to 442) and is positioned adjacent to variable region 2 (VR2, residues 460 to 485). Antibodies requiring both F442 and F447 residues within Peptide A for binding emerged early following infection and demonstrated strong correlation with chronic HCV progression. In contrast, antibodies binding exclusively to F447 were associated with spontaneous viral clearance and consistently co-occurred with Epitope II antibodies during later phases of infection. By establishing the relationship between these distinct antibody binding patterns and divergent infection outcomes, our findings elucidate potential HCV immune evasion mechanisms and may facilitate the development of predictive tools for determining chronic versus clearance outcomes early in infection, as well as inform rational vaccine design strategies.

Indexed as

Antibody FormationHepacivirusHepatitis CHepatitis C AntibodiesHepatitis C, ChronicPeptidesViral Envelope ProteinsEpitopesHumansEpitopesglycoprotein E2, Hepatitis C virusHepatitis C AntibodiesPeptidesViral Envelope Proteinsantibody specificitychronic infectionHCVimmune evasionspontaneous clearance

Identifiers

PMID41481431
PMCPMC12773747

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.