Novel Approach for Quantification of Hepatitis C Virus in Liver Cirrhosis Using Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase PCR

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects nearly 3% of the population worldwide and is a major cause of acute and chronic infections leading to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Current laboratory diagnosis of HCV is based on specific antibody detection (anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV)) in serum. As HCV replicates in the liver cells, detection and localization of HCV RNA in liver tissue are vital for diagnosis. Ten biopsy samples diagnosed for cryptogenic liver cirrhosis, negative for the presence of anti-HCV and serum HCV RNA, were studied for analyzing presence of viral nucleic acid in liver tissues. Qualitative screening for HCV was done through ELISA while the nucleic acid analysis was performed through COBAS Amplicor. Detection of HCV RNA in liver tissue biopsies was performed following standard protocol of HCV detection kit (Shenzhen PG Biotech) with modifications using Light Cycler 2.0 (minimum detection limit 10 copies/ml). Quantitative detection in liver biopsies following the modified method showed the presence of HCV RNA in three samples out of the ten studied. The results indicate that using Light Cycler 2.0, following the modified technique described, constitutes a reliable method of quantitative detection and localization of HCV in tissue in "serosilent" HCV infection.