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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2000, p. 94-98, Vol. 38, No. 1
Second Department of Medicine, Nagoya City
University Medical School,1 and
Department of Gastroenterology, Chyukyo
Hospital,3 Nagoya, Center for Molecular
Biology and Cytogenetics, SRL, Inc., Tokyo,2
and Department of Pathology, Kurume University School of
Medicine, Kurume,4 Japan
Received 13 July 1999/Returned for modification 31 August
1999/Accepted 8 October 1999
Although TT virus (TTV) was isolated from a cryptogenic
posttransfusion hepatitis patient, its pathogenic role remains unclear. It has been reported that the majority of the healthy population is
infected with TTV. To elucidate the differences between TTV infection
in patients with liver diseases and TTV infection in the healthy
population, a quantification system was developed. TTV DNA was
quantified by a real-time detection PCR (RTD-PCR) assay on an ABI Prism
7700 sequence detector. With this system, TTV DNA was quantified in 78 hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients (63 with elevated serum
alanine aminotransferase [ALT] levels and 15 with normal ALT levels)
and in 70 voluntary blood donors (BDs). The quantification range was
2.08 to 7.35 log copies/ml. The intra-assay and interassay coefficients
of variation were 0.37 to 6.33% and 0.60 to 7.07%, respectively. The
mean serum TTV DNA levels in the HCV-infected patients with both
elevated and normal ALT levels and BDs were 3.69 ± 0.89, 3.45 ± 0.76, and 3.45 ± 0.67 log copies/ml, respectively.
Comparison of the serum TTV DNA levels among the HCV-infected patients
revealed that they were not related to the serum ALT and HCV core
protein levels or to the histopathological score on liver biopsy. This
study showed that (i) the RTD-PCR assay for the detection of TTV was accurate and had a high degree of sensitivity, (ii) the mean serum TTV
DNA level was similar among HCV-infected patients, irrespective of
their ALT level, and also among BDs, and (iii) a high serum TTV DNA
level does not affect the serum ALT and HCV levels or liver damage in
HCV-infected patients.
0095-1137/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Development of a TT Virus DNA Quantification System
Using Real-Time Detection PCR
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Second
Department of Medicine, Nagoya City University Medical School,
Kawasumi, Mizuho, Nagoya 467-8601, Japan. Phone: 81-52-853-8216. Fax: 81-52-852-0849. E-mail:
mizokami{at}med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp.
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