Improving Antigenicity of the Recombinant Hepatitis C Virus Core Protein via Random Mutagenesis

Table 1

K_L (affinity) and A_max (maximum binding capacity) of HCV core antigens.

Wild type

M1a

M1b

M2

M3a

M3b

Core protein

U^a

R^b

R/U

U

R

R/U

U

R

R/U

U

R

R/U

U

R

R/U

U

R

R/U

KL (𝜇M^−1)

82±8

69±5

0.9

74±7

64±4

0.9

43±3

39±3

0.9

77±6

61±4

0.8

93±8

115±5

1.2

87±10

113±10

1.3

Amax (10^−2)

45±2

54±2

1.2

54±2

64±2

1.2

55±3

66±3

1.2

58±2

74±2

1.3

65±2

78±1

1.2

80±3

96±3

1.2

Rsqr

0.96

0.92

0.97

0.94

0.97

0.96

0.97

0.95

0.98

0.94

0.93

0.91

^a, bUn-folded and refolded protein, respectively.