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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2002, p. 4224-4229, Vol. 40, No. 11
0095-1137/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.40.11.4224-4229.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Comparison of Serum Hepatitis C Virus RNA and Core Antigen Concentrations and Determination of Whether Levels Are Associated with Liver Histology or Affected by Specimen Storage Time

L. Martin Lagging,^1,2* Clementina E. Garcia,¹ Johan Westin,² Rune Wejstål,² Gunnar Norkrans,² Amar P. Dhillon,³ and Magnus Lindh¹

Department of Clinical Virology,¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden,² Department of Histopathology, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, United Kingdom³

Received 11 April 2002/ Returned for modification 20 July 2002/ Accepted 31 August 2002

An enzyme immunoassay has recently been developed for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen. To evaluate the possible association between core antigen and HCV RNA levels with regards to the change in liver histology over time as well as study the effect of duration of storage on viral load results, sequential sera were analyzed from 45 patients with chronic HCV infection who had undergone two or more liver biopsies. A relatively strong association was found between the core antigen and HCV RNA concentrations (r_s = 0.8), with a core antigen level of 1 pg/ml corresponding to approximately 1,000 IU/ml. All 42 sera with detectable HCV RNA at the time of the second biopsy had core antigen concentrations above 1 pg/ml, and the three sera without detectable HCV RNA had concentrations below 1 pg/ml. No association was found between HCV RNA or core antigen levels and the stage of fibrosis in biopsy samples, progression of fibrosis, necro-inflammatory grade, steatosis, genotype, alanine aminotransferase level, or alcohol consumption. A significant association was demonstrated between the storage time of the samples and both the HCV RNA and core antigen concentrations. The median log HCV RNA concentrations (international units/milliliter) were 3.92 for the sera obtained at the time of the first biopsy (median storage time, 13.0 years) and 4.41 for the sera obtained at the time of the second biopsy (median storage time, 6.6 years) compared to 5.96, the median for 102 different routine clinical patient samples.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Clinical Virology, Göteborg University, Guldhedsgatan 10B, S-413 46 Göteborg, Sweden. Phone: 46-31-342 46 58. Fax: 46-31-41 12 56. E-mail: martin.lagging{at}medfak.gu.se.

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2002, p. 4224-4229, Vol. 40, No. 11
0095-1137/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.40.11.4224-4229.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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