ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the prevalence of serum anti-F in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the distribution of anti-F.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The recombinant protein (HCV-F/GST) was coated onto micro titer plates as antigen. Sera of 120 patients with hepatitis C virus infection, 15 patients with hepatitis B, 3 patients with hepatitis E and 10 normal sera were tested by indirect ELISA for detecting anti-F.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>82 samples out of the 120 (68%) HCV infected patients exhibited a positive anti-F reaction, showing significant difference from the controls with no HCV infection (P < 0.01). Data from logistic analysis showed that the positive rate of anti-F was higher in patients over 50 year olds (OR = 6.675, 95% CI: 2.407-19.071). Patients of midrange, severe phase and hepatic cirrhosis had higher rate than the others (OR = 2.749, 95% CI: 1.470-5.141).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Prevalence and distribution of anti-F in Yixing hepatitis C patients was reported and which might be related to the progression of HCV infection.</p>