Simultaneous use of one extract of HCV RNA for LCx HCV RNA quantitative and versant HCV genotype assays

In this study the feasibility of the use of HCV RNA, extracted with the manual QIAamp((R)) viral nucleic acid extraction kit (Qiagen), for the use with the LCx((R)) HCV Quantitative RNAassay (Abbott, LCx HCV) and Versant((R)) HCV Genotype assay (Bayer, LiPA Genotype) was evaluated. A total of 9 samples have been tested in parallel with LCx HCV and LiPA Genotype. LCx HCV testing for these samples revealed viral loads between 2.500 and 2,24 Mio IU/ml. For 8/9 samples genotypes 1, 1 a, 1b, 2b, and 3a could be determined. Taken together, this study suggests that the use of one extract of HCV RNA for LCx HCV and LiPA Genotype testing is feasible for laboratories exhibiting simultaneous viral load and genotyping testing on the same patient sample.