Recent studies have suggested the existence of a novel protein of hepati-tis C virus (HCV) encoded by an ORF overlapping the core gene in the +1 frame (core+1 ORF). Two alternative translation mechanisms have been proposed for expression of the core+1 ORF of HCV-1a in cultured cells; a frameshift mechanism within codons 8–11, yielding a protein known as core+1⁄F, and⁄or translation initiation from internal codons in the core+1 ORF, yielding a shorter protein known as core+1⁄S.
