Nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) is a viral nonstructural protein that is 70 kDa cleavage product of the hepatitis C virus polyprotein. It acts as a serine protease.
HCV infection and the detection of specific antibodies varies from patient to patient. With current assays, seroconversion occurs on an average at 6-8 weeks after the onset of infection.
Conserved antigens from the HCV NS3 regions are used in these tests to detect anti-HCV antibodies.
Detect anti-HCV antibody are generally recommended for screening the HCV infections. | 
