The rate of HBsAg carriers among blood donors at at Thua Thien Hue province during 5 years (1997 - 2001) is relative high, with 13.57% on average. At the same time, the incidence of HCV infection is lower than other areas (with mean 0.64%). The rate of HBsAg carrier is higher in rural than in Hue city (14.72% vs. 12.27%). The young adults in precincts have higher HBsAg incidence than in other groups.
Blood Donors ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis C Antibodies

A newly developed third generation enzyme immunoassay(Lucky HCD 3.0 EIA) for hepatitis C virus(HCV) antibodies was added with the envelope(E1E2)/NS4 fusion proteins and expanded NS5 proteins as well as the core/NS3 fusion proteins. Authors evaluated the HCD 3.0 EIA with the previously available second generation EIA(HCD 2.0) in 10,435 Red Cross blood donors. Among 10,435 donors who were screened for the presence of HCV antibodies by HCD 2.0 assay, 22(0.21%) sera were repeatedly reactive. All of these sera were tested for further testing. Only 13 of all tested sera were reactive by HCD 3.0 EIA, and nine sera were not reactive. Nine of 13 HCD 3.0 positive sera were reactive by recombinant immunoblot assay(Lucky-Confirm). Also seven of these 13 sera had detectable HCV genomic RNA by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). None of nine HCD 3.0 negative samples had detectable immunoblot assay and HCV genomic RNA. It is concluded that the new HCV EIA can decrease a significant false positivity of second generation EIA in a blood donor population. This new assay correlates well with detection of HCV-RNA by RT-PCR and identifies donors who are truly infected.
Antibodies ; Blood Donors* ; Hepatitis C ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; Humans ; Immunoblotting* ; Red Cross ; RNA ; Tissue Donors

No abstract available.
Hepatitis C/*diagnosis ; Hepatitis C Antibodies/*blood ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; RNA, Viral/*blood ; Viremia/*diagnosis

OBJECTIVETo detect humoral immune response against different function regions of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in chronic patients, and further to investigate the correlativity between anti-HCV antibody titers and HCV RNA concentration.

METHODSUsing recombinant dominate epitope antigens, e.g. HCV Core, NS3, NS4, NS5 and chimeric HVR1, a set of ELISA test reagents was formulated. Then, titers of antibodies against HCV different regions and the RNA concentration of HCV in chronic patient sera were detected by ELISA and quantitative RT-PCR technique, respectively.

RESULTSGreat differences have been noted in antibody titers and positive rate of different HCV function regions in chronic patients. Antibodies against HCV Core and HVR1 have the highest positive rate, then NS3, NS4, and NS5 in sequence.

CONCLUSIONThe titer of antibodies against different regions of HCV in chronic patients has good correlation with HCV RNA concentration.

BACKGROUND: Anti-hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) assays are recommended for screening HCV-infected persons. The VIDAS Anti-HCV Assay (bioMérieux, France), based on the enzyme-linked fluorescence test principle, was recently introduced in Korea. We evaluated the clinical performance of the VIDAS assay. METHODS: One hundred HCV-positive and 1,002 HCV-negative blood samples confirmed by Architect anti-HCV (Abbott Laboratories, USA) and COBAS TaqMan HCV real-time PCR (Roche Diagnostics, USA) or the Procleix Ultrio Plus Assay (Gen-Probe Incorporated, USA) were obtained from the Human Serum Bank (HSB) and tested by VIDAS. In case of discrepant results, we conducted a recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA). RESULTS: The agreement rates for known HCV-positive and HCV-negative samples between the VIDAS assay and the HSB testing were 100% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 96.4-100%) and 99.5% (95% CI: 98.8-99.8%), respectively. One of the five discrepant samples was positive for Core 2+ and NS3-2 2+ reactivity, two samples were negative, and the other two were indeterminate regarding NS4 2+ reactivity in RIBA. We observed a significant but weak positive correlation between the titers of VIDAS and Architect assays (r=0.315, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The VIDAS anti-HCV assay, developed on the VIDAS automated immunoassay platform based on the ready-to-use, single-sample test concept may be useful in small-to-medium-sized laboratories. It showed good agreement with Architect anti-HCV and COBAS PCR assays and is therefore useful for detection of HCV infection. Weakly test-positive (ambiguous) samples require additional testing by another anti-HCV, RIBA, or HCV RNA assay.
Automation ; Hepatitis C/*diagnosis ; Hepatitis C Antibodies/*blood ; Humans ; *Immunoassay ; Immunoblotting ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUNDTo study the antibody against hepatitis C virus first envelope (HCV-E1) protein in the sera from patients with HCV and to evaluate the application of HCV-E1 antigen in detection of HCV antibody.

METHODSPurified E1 engineering protein was used as antigen to develop an ELISA for detecting E1 antibody in 80 national reference sera, 821 blood donors' sera and l20 sera from clinical patients with hepatitis.

RESULTSAnti-HCV E1 was positive in 70% (28/40) and negative in 100% (40/40) of 80 national reference sera, and 1.9% (16/821) was positive in blood of the sera donors' and 68% (492/720) positive in sera of patients with hepatitis. Most anti-HCV E1 positive sera were positive for core, NS 3 and NS 5A, but only a few sera were positive for E1 antigen. Of the sera from 218 clinical patients, 813 blood donors and 848 normal people that were anti-HCV negative tested by commercial anti HCV ELISA kit, 1.4%, 1.1% and 0.9% were anti-HCV E1 positive, respectively. Investigation of seroconversion on three patients showed that anti-E1 was first detectable.

CONCLUSIONSDetection of anti-HCV E1 by engineered E1 protein is sensitive and specific. The prevalence and early presence of E1 antibody in HCV infected patients reflect the active status of the disease to a certain extent. Detection of the antibody is useful in clinical diagnosis.

Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hepacivirus ; genetics ; Hepatitis C ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; blood ; Humans

Hepatitis C ; diagnosis ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; blood ; Humans ; Serologic Tests ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; immunology

Hepacivirus ; classification ; genetics ; Hepatitis C ; diagnosis ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; blood ; Humans ; RNA, Viral ; blood ; Viral Core Proteins ; blood

To evaluate the clinical feasibility of the antibody titer against a chimeric polypeptide (named Core 518), in which a domain of Core and NS3 of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was fused, ELISA was performed in a total of 76 serum samples. Each serum was serially diluted using two-fold dilution method with distilled water into 10 concentrations. They were all positive for second generation anti-HCV assay (HCV EIA II; Abbott Laboratories). Genotyping RT-PCR, quantitative competitive RT-PCR, and RIBA (Lucky Confirm; LG Biotech) were also assayed. Anti-Core 518 antibody was detected in x 12800 or higher dilutions of sera from 35 of 43 chronic hepatitis C (81.4%) and nine of 16 hepatocellular carcinoma sera (56.3%), one of four cirrhosis (25%), 0 of four acute hepatitis C, and one of nine healthy isolated anti-HCV-positive subjects (p=0.0000). The anti-Core 518 antibody titers were well correlated with the presence of HCV RNA in serum (p=0.002). The anti-Core 518 antibody titers decreased significantly in nine of ten responders to IFN-alpha treatment. Monitoring anti-Core 518 titers may be helpful not only for differentiating the status of HCV infection among patients with various type C viral liver diseases, but also for predicting responses to IFN-alpha treatment.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Genotype ; Hepatitis C/immunology* ; Hepatitis C/drug therapy* ; Hepatitis C/diagnosis ; Hepatitis C/blood ; Hepatitis C Antibodies/immunology* ; Hepatitis C Antibodies/blood ; Hepatitis C Antigens/immunology* ; Hepatitis C-Like Viruses/immunology* ; Hepatitis C-Like Viruses/genetics ; Human ; Immunoblotting ; Interferon Alfa-2a/therapeutic use* ; Male ; Middle Age ; RNA, Viral/blood ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins/immunology ; Viral Core Proteins/immunology* ; Viral Nonstructural Proteins/immunology*