AbstractBackground:Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype is a predictive marker for treatment response. We sequentially evaluated the performances of two nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) and one serology assay for HCV genotype: Abbott RealTimegenotype II (RealTimeII), GeneMatrix restriction fragment mass polymorphism (RFMP), and Sysmex HISCL HCV Gr (HISCL Gr).Methods:We examined 281 clinical samples with three assays. The accuracy was assessed using the HCV Genotype Performance Panel PHW204 (SeraCare Life Sciences) for two NAATs. Discrepant cases were re-genotyped by the Versant HCV v.2.0 (line probe 2.0) assay.Results:With the RealTimeII assay, clinic samples were analyzed as follows: genotypes 1b (43.1%), 2 (40.2%), 1 subtypes other than 1a and 1b (12.5%), 3 (1.8%), 4 (1.4%), 1a (0.7%), 6 (0.4%), and mixed (1.1%). The RealTimeII and RFMP assays showed a type concordance rate of 97.5% (274/281) (κ=0.80) and no significant discordance (p=0.25). Both assays accurately genotyped all samples in the Performance Panel by the subtype level. The HISCL Gr assay showed concordance rates of about 91% (κ<0.40) and statistically significant discordances with two NAATs (p<0.05). In confirmation tests, the results of RFMP assay were the most consistent with those of Versant 2.0 assay.Conclusions:The three HCV assays provided genotyping and serotyping results with good concordance rates. The two NAATs (RealTimeII and RFMP) showed comparable performance and good agreement. However, the results of the HISCL Gr assay showed statistically significant differences with those of the NAATs.
Survey of type 6 group variants of hepatitis C virus in Southeast Asia by using a core-based genotyping assay.
