Hepatitis C virus core antigen: A diagnostic and treatment monitoring marker of hepatitis C virus in Indian population.

Antibody assay Antiviral CLIA Correlation coefficient Cost effective Diagnostic algorithm ELISA Elimination Follow-up Quantitative RTPCR Resource limited Screening Viral load assay

Journal

Indian journal of gastroenterology : official journal of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology
ISSN: 0975-0711
Titre abrégé: Indian J Gastroenterol
Pays: India
ID NLM: 8409436

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
15 Apr 2024
Historique:
received: 02 09 2023
accepted: 01 02 2024
medline: 15 4 2024
pubmed: 15 4 2024
entrez: 15 4 2024
Statut: aheadofprint

Résumé

The diagnosis and treatment monitoring of hepatitis C is quite challenging. The screening test, i.e. antibody assay, is unable to detect acute cases, while the gold standard hepatitis C virus (HCV) reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) assay is not feasible in resource-limited countries such as India due to high cost and infrastructure requirement. European Association for the Study of the Liver and World Health Organization have approved a new marker, i.e. HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) assay, as an alternative to molecular assay. In this study, we have evaluated HCVcAg assay for diagnosis and treatment monitoring follow-up in Indian population infected with hepatitis C. Blood specimen of 90 clinically suspected cases of acute hepatitis C were tested simultaneously for anti-HCV antibody assay via ELISA (enzyme-linked immunoassay), HCVcAg assay by chemiluminescence immune assay (CLIA) and HCV RTPCR VL (viral load) assay. Thirty-four HCV RTPCR positive patients were further enrolled in treatment monitoring group whose blood samples were tested at the beginning of treatment, two weeks, four weeks and 12 weeks via HCV core Ag assay and HCV RTPCR Viral Load assay. Considering HCV RTPCR as gold standard, diagnostic performance of HCV core Ag assay and anti-HCV antibody assay was evaluated. The sensitivity and specificity of HCV core Ag assay were higher than that of anti-HCV Antibody assay, i.e. 88.3% and 100% vs. 23.3% and 83.3%, respectively. The overall diagnostic accuracy of HCV core Ag assay was 92.20%. Among treatment follow-up group, HCV core Ag levels correlated well with HCV viral load levels, at the beginning of treatment (baseline) till 12 weeks showing highly significant Spearman rank correlation coefficient of > 0.9 with HCV viral load levels. HCV core Ag assay is a cost-effective, practically feasible substitute of HCV RTPCR viral load assay for diagnosis as well as long duration treatment monitoring of hepatitis C infection in resource-limited settings.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
The diagnosis and treatment monitoring of hepatitis C is quite challenging. The screening test, i.e. antibody assay, is unable to detect acute cases, while the gold standard hepatitis C virus (HCV) reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) assay is not feasible in resource-limited countries such as India due to high cost and infrastructure requirement. European Association for the Study of the Liver and World Health Organization have approved a new marker, i.e. HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) assay, as an alternative to molecular assay. In this study, we have evaluated HCVcAg assay for diagnosis and treatment monitoring follow-up in Indian population infected with hepatitis C.
METHODS METHODS
Blood specimen of 90 clinically suspected cases of acute hepatitis C were tested simultaneously for anti-HCV antibody assay via ELISA (enzyme-linked immunoassay), HCVcAg assay by chemiluminescence immune assay (CLIA) and HCV RTPCR VL (viral load) assay. Thirty-four HCV RTPCR positive patients were further enrolled in treatment monitoring group whose blood samples were tested at the beginning of treatment, two weeks, four weeks and 12 weeks via HCV core Ag assay and HCV RTPCR Viral Load assay.
RESULTS RESULTS
Considering HCV RTPCR as gold standard, diagnostic performance of HCV core Ag assay and anti-HCV antibody assay was evaluated. The sensitivity and specificity of HCV core Ag assay were higher than that of anti-HCV Antibody assay, i.e. 88.3% and 100% vs. 23.3% and 83.3%, respectively. The overall diagnostic accuracy of HCV core Ag assay was 92.20%. Among treatment follow-up group, HCV core Ag levels correlated well with HCV viral load levels, at the beginning of treatment (baseline) till 12 weeks showing highly significant Spearman rank correlation coefficient of > 0.9 with HCV viral load levels.
CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS
HCV core Ag assay is a cost-effective, practically feasible substitute of HCV RTPCR viral load assay for diagnosis as well as long duration treatment monitoring of hepatitis C infection in resource-limited settings.

Identifiants

pubmed: 38619807
doi: 10.1007/s12664-024-01549-7
pii: 10.1007/s12664-024-01549-7
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Informations de copyright

© 2024. Indian Society of Gastroenterology.

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Auteurs

Jaya Garg (J)

Department of Microbiology, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, 226 010, India. jaya_bhu@rediffmail.com.

Prashant Verma (P)

Department of Gastromedicine, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, 226 010, India.

Mridu Singh (M)

Department of Medicine, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, 226 010, India.

Anupam Das (A)

Department of Microbiology, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, 226 010, India.

Anurag Pathak (A)

Department of Community Medicine, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, 226 010, India.

Jyotsna Agarwal (J)

Department of Microbiology, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, 226 010, India.

Classifications MeSH