Description
This recombinant multi-epitope chimeric HCV antigen contains three peptide segments. The first segment is HCV Core fragment (8-56); its gene was PCR magnified from a cloned plasmid containing the full length of HCV gene (type 1a). The second segment is an immunodominant region from HCV NS4 (1916-1947) fragment; its gene was chemically synthesized according to the consensus sequence. The third segment is the HCV NS3 fragment (1192-1457); its gene was extracted from a cloned plasmid containing the full length of HCV gene (type 1a). After they were cloned into an expression vector, pBVIL1, the genes were connected together one by one and expressed in Escherichia coli in a chimera. The E.coli-derived recombinant protein was then purified by a series of steps to the purity above 95% as identified by SDS-PAGE. The final product was lyophilized in a 0.01M Tris buffer pH8.0 containing 0.02%SDS. (Attention: please dissolve just in distilled water, must avoid the potassium ion)