Evaluation of the available anti-HCV antibody detection tests and RT-PCR assay in the diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infection.
The aim of the present work is to evaluate the commercially available antibody tests in the diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by comparing their results with the RT-PCR test. The study included 316 serum samples from three groups: blood donors, patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) and patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Samples were subjected to HCV-antibody detection by ELISA and RIBA tests and HCV-RNA detection by RT-PCR assay. The percentage of infectivity for blood donors was 18.9% by ELISA, 20.8% by RIBA and 23.6% by RT-PCR test. For patients on HD and those positive for HIV, the test positivity was respectively 59.3% and 5.3% by ELISA, 64% and 10.5% by RIBA and, 66.3% and 21% by PCR test. The percentage of false negativity of HCV-Ab by ELISA and RIBA when compared with RT-PCR test was 3.5 and 8.1% for samples blood donors, 17.1 and 25.7% for HD patients and 5.6 and 16.7% for HIV-infected samples, respectively. The false positivity of HCV-Ab by ELISA and RIBA, when compared with RT-PCR, was 5%, 3.9% and zero for blood donors, HD patients and HIV-HCV co-infected cases, respectively. While comparing ELISA with RT-PCR, the false positivity was 10%, 5.9% and zero respectively for blood donors, HD patients and HIV-HCV co-infected cases. Thus, it is very important to screen blood donors, HD patients and HIV-infected patients by using the RT-PCR for HCV-RNA to avoid false negative results.
Tashkandy
Mohamed Amin A
MA
Al-Noor Specialist Hospital, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Khodari
Yousif A
YA
Ibrahim
Aida Mohamed
AM
Dhafar
Khalid O
KO
Gazzaz
Zohair J
ZJ
Azab
Badr A
BA
D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral