title: Comparison of competitive and non-competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the quantification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA.
abstract: A competitive reverse transcription (RT)-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for HCV RNA was compared with the Roche Amplicor HCV Monitor assay, based on non-competitive, single step RT-PCR. A total of 83 serum samples were tested in parallel by both assays. All samples could be quantified by competitive RT-PCR (cPCR), whereas seven were negative by the non-competitive assay (ncPCR). The HCV RNA titre of the discordant samples assessed by cPCR was significantly lower than that of the remaining 76 (P < 0.001). Absolute HCV RNA titres were higher by cPCR than by ncPCR (P < 0.001), even if the results of the two methods were statistically correlated (P < 0.001). HCV RNA titre tested by cPCR was not significantly different between samples infected with genotype 1 or 2. However, values obtained by ncPCR were higher in samples with genotype 1 (P < 0.001). Furthermore, all seven discordant samples were infected with genotype 2. When both methods were used to measure serial dilutions of standard HCV RNA, we observed a bias to lower measurements with the ncPCR kit. This study shows a good correlation between the results of two PCR-based methods for the quantification HCV RNA. However, the degree of sensitivity and the absolute HCV RNA titre measured may vary according to the assay used.
authors.affiliation: III Laboratory of Clinical Chemistry, Hospital of Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ravaggi
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Biasin
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Infantolino
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cariani
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral