%0 Journal Article
%T Detection of HCV core antigen and its diagnostic significance
%A YANG Jie
%J Journal of Clinical Hepatology
%D 2013
%I Journal of Clinical Hepatology
%X ObjectiveTo compare the abilities of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen (cAg) test and the HCV RNA assay for confirming anti-HCV presence in order to determine the clinical utility of the HCV-cAg as an alternative or confirmatory diagnostic tool. MethodsSerum samples collected from 158 patients diagnosed with HCV infection were subjected to the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based HCV-cAg test. The optical density (OD) measured values were used to calculate the ratio of specimen absorbance to the cutoff value (S/CO). Simultaneously, the serum samples were subjected to PCR-based nucleic acid amplification quantitative fluorescence detection of HCV RNA. ResultsNone of the serum samples had a S/CO value £¼1 for the HCV-cAg test (100% negative), but all of the samples had a S/CO value £¾5 (100% positive). The HCV-cAg test sensitivity was 87.05%, specificity was 76.67%, positive predictive value was 96ª±53%, and negative predictive value was 44.23%. As the S/CO value gradually increased, the significantly higher positive coincident rate of the HCV RNA test decreased. The HCV RNA negative coincident rate was significantly higher than that of the HCV-cAg test. HCV-cAg S/CO values between 1 and 2 corresponded to an HCV RNA values between 1.0¡Á103 copies/ml and 1.0¡Á104 copies/ml. The highest S/CO value obtained was 1.992. ConclusionThe HCV-cAg test is comparable to the HCV RNA assay for diagnosing HCV infection.
%K hepatitis C antigen
%K hepacivirus
%U http://www.lcgdbzz.org/qk_content.asp?id=5248&ClassID=115155845