title: Hepatitis C virus RNA assays: current and emerging technologies and their clinical applications.
abstract: Molecular diagnostic assays represent a cornerstone in the management of hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients. Qualitative and quantitative HCV molecular assays are used for the diagnosis of acute and chronic HCV infections, viral genotyping, viral-load determination, treatment monitoring and prognosis. Reverse-transcription PCR, transcription-mediated amplification and branched DNA amplification are commonly employed for detection of HCV RNA. Recently, new HCV molecular assays that employ nanostructures have emerged and have been proposed as suitable for both low- and high-resource settings, without sacrificing sensitivity and specificity. This article will present current and future HCV molecular diagnostic assays with a focus on their clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: The American University in Cairo, 113 Kasr El-Aini Street, Cairo 11511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Reem R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Al Olaby
authors.forename: Hassan M E
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Azzazy
mesh_terms: D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D049329:Nanostructures; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000379:methods; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral