The invention provides methods and compositions for early diagnosis and treatment of a disease associated with a specific antibody by employing the detection of a cross-idiotypic epitope on the specific antibody to detect the cells that produce the antibody before the development of clinical symptoms of the disease.

Modified hepatitis C virus polypeptides are described. The polypeptides include the HCV NS4a domain and modified NS3 domain. The polypeptides retain conformational epitopes. HCV immunoassays including the polypeptides are also described.

Disclosed is a non-invasive method for assessing in a subject the presence and severity of a liver lesion, or the risk of death or liver-related events, including: 1) performing at least three binary logistic regressions on at least one variable, performed on the same variable(s) but each directed to a different single diagnostic target, thereby obtaining at least three scores; 2) combining the scores from step 1) in a multiple linear regression to obtain a new multi-targeted score; 3) optionally sorting the multi-targeted score obtained in step 2) in a classification of liver lesion stages or grades, thereby determining to which liver lesion stage or grade the subject belongs based on his/her multi-targeted score. Also disclosed is a single multi-targeted non-invasive test obtained by the combination of single-targeted non-invasive tests providing a unique score and a unique classification with improved accuracy compared to single-targeted diagnostic tests.

The present invention relates to a method for diagnosis, prediction and/or prognosis of an active autoimmune pathology in a subject, comprising detecting the co-expression of PD-1 and CD38 proteins at the surface of T lymphocytes in a biological sample from the subject.

The present invention also relates to a use of the pool of PD-1 (Programmed cell death 1) and CD38 protein as biomarkers for diagnosis, prediction and/or prognosis of an active autoimmune pathology in a subject.

The present invention further relates to a test device for detecting the co-expression of PD-1 and CD38 in a sample from a subject, comprising: (i) optionally means for obtaining a sample from the subject, and (ii) means for detecting the co-expression of PD-1 and CD38 at the surface of the T lymphocytes in said sample, and (iii) means for determining the frequency of co-expression of PD-1 and CD38 in the sample

The present invention relates to methods for diagnosing and/or predicting the risk of developing autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) in a subject. The methods are based on the inventors' identification of a novel biomarker for AIH. The invention further comprises the use of said biomarker in the methods disclosed herein, and kits comprising agents for detecting said biomarker. The invention also relates to a method of treating AIH in a subject, wherein the subject has been diagnosed with AIH or determined to be at risk of developing AIH using the methods disclosed herein.

The present invention can induce stronger cellular immunity to hepatitis C and provide a treatment means and a prevention means that are effective in completely eliminating the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Provided is a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment and/or prevention of hepatitis C, said composition comprising a recombinant vaccinia virus (a) and a recombinant vector (b) and characterized in that after one of the recombinant vaccinia virus (a) and the recombinant vector (b) is administered for initial immunity, the other is administered for additional immunity. The recombinant vaccinia virus (a) contains an expression promoter and all or a portion of the cDNA of the HCV genome. The recombinant vector (b) contains an expression promoter and all or a portion of the cDNA of the HCV (where the cDNA contained in the recombinant vector (b) has a different base sequence than that included in the recombinant vaccinia virus (a)).

The present disclosure relates to polypeptides, including fusions thereof, nucleic acids, vectors, host cells, immunodiagnostic reagents, kits, and immunoassays for use detecting the presence of HCV antibodies. More specifically, the present invention describes specific NS3 antigens that can be used for the detection of anti-HCV antibodies.

The invention provides an antibody or antigen binding fragment thereof capable of binding to the antigen binding pocket of the AP33 antibody, wherein said antibody or antigen binding fragment thereof comprises VL CDR1 (L1), VL CDR2 (L2), and VL CDR.sub.3 (L.sub.3) consisting of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 and SEQ ID NO:23 respectively, and comprises VH CDR1 (H1), VH CDR2 (H2), and VH CDR3 (H3) consisting of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:24, SEQ ID NO:25, and SEQ ID NO:26 respectively. The invention also provides compositions, methods, nucleic acids and uses.

Disclosed herein are assays, systems, and kits for the detection and diagnosis of hepatitis virus infections in subjects.

A method for evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of interferon (IFN)/ribavirin (RBV) for hepatitis C is disclosed. The method includes the steps of providing a specimen; mixing the specimen, a primer of a miRNA Let-7g and a poly-chain reaction (PCR) reagent together; and evaluating the efficacy of IFN/RBV on inhibiting a hepatitis C virus according to the expressing level of the miRNA Let-7g in the specimen detected by the PCR reagent.