This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.
Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is endemic in long-term dialysis units. We assessed
the performance of a recently developed HCV 3.0 assay for the detection of HCV antibodies
in patients undergoing dialysis. The study evaluated 128 patients undergoing long-term
maintenance hemodialysis. Anti-HCV was detected by 2.0 and 3.0 enzyme immunoassay
(EIA). Results were confirmed with recombinant immunoblot assays (RIBA™ 2.0 and RIBA™
3.0). HCV RNA was detected by using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction
(RT-PCR). Thirty-two patients (25%) were HCV EIA 2.0 positive. Of these, 1 was RIBA™
2.0 negative (PCR positive), 3 were indeterminate (3 PCR positive), and 28 were positive
(23 PCR positive). Thirty-five (27%) were HCV EIA 3.0 positive. One was RIBA™ 3.0
negative (PCR positive), 1 was indeterminate (c33c, PCR positive), and 33 were positive
(27 PCR positive) by RIBA™ 3.0. Thus only 1 PCR-positive patient was negative with
RIBA™ 2.0 and 3.0 assays. Two of the 3 RIBA™ 2.0 indeterminate samples were positive
with RIBA™ 3.0. One remained indeterminate but was HCV RNA positive. In summary, HCV
3.0 EIA detected 4 additional viremic patients but was positive in 6 PCR-negative
subjects. A high correlation of the presence of antibody to c33c with HCV RNA (28
of 34,82%) was found, and it was found in all anti-HCV positive samples and in 1 indeterminate
sample. We conclude that the HCV EIA 3.0 test with the supplemental confirmatory RIBA™
3.0 test may improve the sensitivity for the detection of antiHCV. Nevertheless, in
potentially immunocompromised patients undergoing dialysis, PCR continues to be the
only reliable test for detecting viremia.
Abbreviations:
EIA (enzyme immunoassay), HCV (hepatitis C virus), RIBA™ (recombinant immunoblot assay), RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction), SIA (strip immunoblot assay)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Translational ResearchAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- New kit on the block: evaluation of second-generation assays for detection of antibody to hepatitis C virus.Hepatology. 1992; 15: 350-353
- Confirmation of hepatitis C virus infection by new four-antigen recombinant immunoblot assay.Lancet. 1991; 337: 317-319
- Comparative evaluation of supplemental hepatitis C virus antibody test systems.Transfusion. 1991; 32: 408-414
- Hepatitis C virus infection in hemodialysis patients in Southern Sweden: epidemiological, clinical and diagnostic aspects.J Med Virol. 1993; 40: 266-270
- Highly positive c22-3 “indeterminate” second generation RIBA: resolution by third generation RIBA™ and HCV RNA PCR.Hepatology. 1993; 18 ([abstract]): 86A
- Prevalence of hepatitis C virus RNA in organ donor positive for hepatitis C antibody and in the recipients on their organs.N Engl J Med. 1992; 327: 910-915
- Hepatitis C virus infection in kidney transplant recipients.Hepatology. 1993; 18: 1027-1031
- Improved detection of antibodies to hepatitis C virus in dialysis patients using a second-generation enzyme immunoassay.Am J Kidney Dis. 1992; 20: 589-591
- Improved detection of anti-HCV in post transfusion hepatitis by a third-generation ELISA.Vox Sang. 1995; 68: 15-18
- Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in haemodialysed patients: HCV-RNA and anti-HCV antibodies (third generation assay).Nephrol Dial Transplant. 1995; 10: 234-239
- HCV third generation test in hemodialysis patients.Ital J Gastroenterol. 1995; 27: 300-302
- New insights into hepatitis C virus infection of hemodialysis patients: the implications.Am J Kidney Dis. 1995; 25: 572-578
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 11,
1998
Received in revised form:
March 7,
1998
Received:
December 9,
1997
Identification
Copyright
© 1998 Published by Elsevier Inc.
User license
Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) | How you can reuse 
Elsevier's open access license policy
Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Permitted
For non-commercial purposes:
- Read, print & download
- Redistribute or republish the final article
- Text & data mine
- Translate the article (private use only, not for distribution)
- Reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works
Not Permitted
- Sell or re-use for commercial purposes
- Distribute translations or adaptations of the article
Elsevier's open access license policy
