title: New direct-acting antivirals for patients with chronic HCV infection: can we monitor treatment using an HCV core antigen assay?
abstract: We evaluated the diagnostic usefulness of an HCV core antigen (HCV-Ag) assay in HCV-infected patients undergoing treatment with direct-acting antivirals. We analyzed 103 samples from 28 patients. Compared with RT-PCR, sensitivity was 96.2% and specificity was 100%. The correlation between techniques was excellent (Pearson coefficient: 0.871). HCV-Ag proved to be useful in patients with sustained viral response and in patients who experienced treatment failures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Department of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: felipe.perez.garcia.87@gmail.com.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pérez-García
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ampuero
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biomédica Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reigadas
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biomédica Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Department of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias (CB06/06/0058).
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bouza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D014758:Viral Core Proteins
keywords: Automatized systems; Correlation; Direct-acting antiviral agents; HCV core antigen; Hepatitis C virus