title: Consensus oligonucleotide primers for the detection of GB virus C in human cryptogenic hepatitis.
abstract: Recently, sequences from a putative member of the Flaviviridae, GB virus C (GBV-C), were isolated from the serum of patients with cryptogenic hepatitis. These sequences were 83-99% identical at the nucleotide level. Because of the divergence between these GBV-C isolates, it is likely that the PCR-based detection assay yields false negatives, underestimating dramatically the true prevalence of GBV-C in human hepatitis. We report the design of a GBV-C consensus oligonucleotide primer pair that is superior to those originally described. These primers identify GBV-C sequences in cases of cryptogenic hepatitis, allowing a better estimation of the prevalence of this virus in human populations.
authors.affiliation: Virus Discovery Group, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL 60064, USA. learyt@apmac.abbott.com
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Leary
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Muerhoff
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Pilot-Matias
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Erker
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chalmers
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Schlauder
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: I K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Mushahwar
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018178:Flaviviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral