Assessment of spontaneous fluctuations of viral load in untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C by two standardized quantitation methods: branched DNA and Amplicor Monitor.
Quantitation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in serum has been used to predict and monitor the efficacy of interferon therapy in chronic HCV infection. We prospectively studied the fluctuation of viremia by a longitudinal follow-up of HCV RNA levels for 2 months in six untreated patients. Spontaneous fluctuations of HCV RNA ranged from 2.8- to 5.7-fold with branched DNA assay and from 2.9- to 5.6-fold with Monitor. These large spontaneous fluctuations (up to 0.75 log), observed daily, weekly, and monthly, raise doubt about the clinical value of a single assessment of pretherapeutic viremia.
Halfon
P
P
Alphabio Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, Hôpital de la Conception, Marseille, France. alphabio@wanadoo.fr
Bourlière
M
M
Halimi
G
G
Khiri
H
H
Bertezene
P
P
Portal
I
I
Botta-Fridlund
D
D
Gauthier
A P
AP
Jullien
M
M
Feryn
J M
JM
Gerolami
V
V
Cartouzou
G
G
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000502:physiology*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D019562:Viral Load
D012367:RNA, Viral