Evaluation of ARCHITECT HCV Core Antigen Assay / 대한진단검사의학회지

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen (Ag) levels are known to be well correlating with HCV RNA levels, and may be used as an alternative marker of HCV replication for monitoring the response to HCV treatment. However, the low sensitivity of HCV core Ag assay has been an obstacle for clinical use. In this study, recently developed ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay (Abbott Laboratories, USA) was evaluated for analytical performance and clinical usefulness. METHODS: A total of 109 sera from HCV infected patients including various genotypes of HCV (1b, 2, 2a/2c, 2b, and 3a) and 20 sera from healthy donors were used for evaluating the sensitivity, precision, and linearity of the HCV core Ag assay. The cross reactivity with HIV, hepatitis B virus and myeloma proteins (N=5, each) and correlation with HCV RNA PCR assay were also evaluated. RESULTS: The sensitivity of the HCV core Ag assay was 97.2% (106/109) and there were no false positive results and cross reactivity. The within-run, between-run and between-day CVs were 3.0%, 2.5% and 3.0%, respectively. The levels of HCV core antigen showed a good correlation with those of HCV RNA quantification (r=0.940). The HCV Ag assay showed an excellent linearity in the range from 0.63 to 17,114 fmol/L (r=0.999). CONCLUSIONS: The ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay was good in sensitivity, precision, and linearity and its results well correlated with HCV RNA levels. This assay could be used as a good marker of viral replication for monitoring the therapy response in chronically HCV infected patients.

Histological comparison of chronic hepatitis B and C in an Indian population.

Many studies have shown that steatosis, lymphoid aggregates or follicles and bile duct injury on histology are more consistently associated with chronic hepatitis C than chronic hepatitis B. We compared liver biopsies of 30 patients of chronic hepatitis B with an equal number of age matched patients with chronic hepatitis C. Steatosis, lymphoid aggregates or follicles and bile duct injury were noted in 66.6%, 36.6% and 26.6% cases respectively of chronic hepatitis B as compared to 70%, 33.3% and 30% cases respectively of chronic hepatitis C. Thus none of the features were considered distinctive of HCV infection.

Prevalência dos marcadores sorológicos dos vírus da hepatite B e D em crianças das tribos Caiabi e Txucarramäe do Parque Indígena do Xingu, Brasil central / Prevalence of serological markers of hepatitis B and D viruses in Indian children of the Caiabi and Txucarramäe tribes of Xingu Indian Park in Central Brazil

The medical literature has shown that the inhabitants of the Amazon region are highly affected by hepatitis B and delta viruses infection, but this has never been studied in Indian children by age group. A study of the prevalence of serological markers of hepatitis B and delta viruses in Indian children aged 0 to 14 years living in the PIX was carried out. This Park is located in Central Brazil, a region which is in the transition between the savannab to the south and the Amazon jungle to the north. To determine the prevalence of HBV and HDV markers in Indian children and to characterize the route of HBV transmission in this region. Out of the 17 tribes living in the PIX, two--the Caiabi and the Txucarramäe--were chosen because both live in the North part of the Park, but have quite different ways of life. The overall prevalence of HBV serum markers was: HBsAg, 4.5 per cent; anti-HBs, 39.6 per cent; anti-HBc, 44.1 per cent; any marker of HBV, 47.3 per cent; and anti-HDV, 0.0 per cent. However, a striking difference in the prevalence of hepatitis B markers was observed between the two tribes: younger Caiabi children were much less affected than the Txucarramäe ones. The prevalence of HBsAg in fertile women was 12 per cent, being anti-HBe positive. Our data suggest that HBV infection is highly prevalent among Indian children living in this Indigenous Park and vertical infection is not an important route of transmission in either tribes.