Benkovska L. Biological Meaning of Antigenic Mimicry for Hepatitis C Diagnostics

This dissertation is dedicated to the issue of improving the efficiency of hepatitis C serological diagnostic by proving the role of mimicrins in the appearance of false-positive results in cases of ELIZA-based test systems used for anti-HCV antibodies detection. It has been found the rate of HCV-infection among persons with chronic somatic pathologies (it reaches 4.8 %) to be by 2.2 times higher comparing to health persons (blood donors, pregnant women). The average result specificity concerning the detection of anti-HCV antibodies reaches 98.8 % and meets the requirements for wide criteria. The average prognostic value of positive tests is 80.5 %, the highest value being found for patients with autoimmune conditions (100 %) and dermatological disorders (97.5 %) and the lowest one - for pregnant women examined in this study (59.5 %). We have identified and used in the arrangement of ELIZA-based tests mimicrins and anti-mimicrins antibodies of some bacteria (S. aureus, M. tuberculosis, B. subtilis and C. albicans). It has been established that the majority of sera with false-positive reaction to anti-HCV antibodies react in ELIZA with S. aureus (76.9 %), M. tuberculosis (80.8 %), and C. albicans (57.7%) mimicrins. Addition of mimicrins as a component of the block-solution of ELIZA-based test systems causes an increase of optical signals which has served as a proof of the mimicrin participation in false-positive result generation in hepatitis C serological diagnostic.