[Comparative study on three different methods in typing hepatitis C virus].

Abstract

The sea from 120 anti-HCV-positive patients were detected by three different methods to type HCV. In method A, PCR product of 5'-NC region was cut by restriction endonuclease. In method B, PCR with HCV core region type-specific primers was used. In method C, EIA based on HCV genotype I, II (serotype 1) and genotype III, IV (serotype 2) synthetic peptides was used to detect type-specific antibodies. It was showed that HCV genotypes were successfully identified in 96(80%) patients both by method A and method B, with HCV-II 86(89.6%), HCV-III 8(8.3%), HCV-II/III coinfection 2(2.1%). The results of these two methods were completely agreeable. HCV type-specific antibodies were detected in 78(65%) cases by method C, with serotype 1 68(87.2%), serotype 2 6(7.7%), serotype 1 plus 2 positive 4(5.1%). The comparative estimation of 66 patients who were positive for all the three methods showed a remarkable concordance (64/66, 97.0%). Our study demonstrated that the results of different HCV-typing methods mentioned above were fairly consistent and reliable. The abvantages, disadvantages and practical applicable scope of these methods were discussed in the paper.