Abstract

Background: Molecular methods are essential to define hepatitis C virus (HCV) infec-tion. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of molecular qualitative and quantitative methods for HCV RNA among chronic patients and individuals during the course of HCV infection.
Methods: Single serum samples were obtained from 82 HCV infected individuals where six of them donated serial serum samples (n = 52) during the course of HCV infec-tion. Qualitative (in-house RT-nested PCR and COBAS® AMPLICOR HCV Test v2.0 and TMA) and quantitative (COBAS® AMPLICOR HCV Monitor Test v2.0 and bDNA) techniques were employed.
Results: TMA presented the highest rate (87.8%) of HCV detection among qualitative tests and it was the most sensitive for HCV RNA detection during the early and late phases of HCV infection. HCV RNA was quantified among 56 samples and significant correlation was observed between the two assays (r 0.92; p < 0.0001).
Conclusions: It is concluded that both quantitative methods can be used among chron-ic and acute HCV cases, but TMA was the most efficient for HCV qualitative detec-tion among chronic cases and in the early and late phases of HCV infection.

DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2013.120903