Detection of hepatitis C virus core antigen as an alternative method for diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infection in blood donors negative for hepatitis C virus antibody.

Autor:	Hassanin TM; Endemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University., Abdelraheem EM; Endemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University., Abdelhameed S; Minia Fever Hospital., Abdelrazik M; Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt., Fouad YM; Endemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	European journal of gastroenterology & hepatology [Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol] 2020 Oct; Vol. 32 (10), pp. 1348-1351.
DOI:	10.1097/MEG.0000000000001647
Abstrakt:	Background: Screening of blood donors in many countries is based on the use of serologic assays to detect specific anti-HCV antibodies (HCV Ab), but it lacks detection sensitivity. So, HCV RNA detection using the current gold standard real-time PCR is a must to rule out HCV infection with the main disadvantage being of high cost. HCV core antigen (HCV-c-Ag) immunoassay is proposed as a more cost efficient alternative to HCV RNA detection with PCR. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of HCV-c-Ag detection as a cheap alternative to HCV RNA (PCR) in diagnosis of HCV infection in blood donors who are HCV Ab negative. Methods and Results: One hundred eighty-six volunteer blood donors who tested negative for HCV Ab were examined for HCV-c-Ag. Seven cases out of these 186 cases were HCV-c-Ag positive (4%). HCV RNA detection (PCR technique) was done to 30 cases (seven cases who test positive for HCV-c-Ag and 23 cases who test negative). Six out of the seven cases who were HCV-c-Ag positive (86%) were HCV RNA positive. Twenty-two cases out of the 23 cases who were HCV-c-Ag negative (96%) were HCV RNA negative. Conclusion: HCV-c-Ag detection is an efficient method for diagnosis of HCV infection during screening of blood donors with high specificity (95.6%) and high negative predictive value (95.6%).
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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