-
An amino acid substitution in HCV core antigen limits its use as a reliable measure of HCV infection compared with HCV RNA
- Back
Document Title
An amino acid substitution in HCV core antigen limits its use as a reliable measure of HCV infection compared with HCV RNA
Author
Hansoongnern P., Pratedrat P., Nilyanimit P., Wasitthankasem R., Posuwan N., Wanlapakorn N., Kodchakorn K., Kongtawelert P., Pimsing N., Poovorawan Y.
Affiliations
Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand; National Biobank of Thailand, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Pathum Thani, Thailand; Thailand Excellence Center for Tissue Engineering and Stem Cells, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand; Non-Communicable Disease Control Group, Phetchabun Provincial Health Office, Phetchabun, Thailand; Fellow of the Royal Society of Thailand (FRS[T]), the Royal Society of Thailand, Sanam Sueapa, Bangkok, Thailand
Type
Article
Source Title
PLoS ONE
ISSN
19326203
Year
2023
Volume
18
Open Access
All Open Access, Gold, Green
Publisher
Public Library of Science
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0287694
Format
Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a viral pathogen that causes chronic hepatitis, which can lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Detection of HCV RNA is the standard method used to diagnose the disease and monitor antiviral treatment. A quantification assay for the HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) has been proposed as a simplified alternative to the HCV RNA test for predicting active HCV infection, with the aim of achieving the global goal of eliminating hepatitis. The objective of this study was to determine the correlation between HCV RNA and HCVcAg, as well as the impact of amino acid sequence heterogeneity on HCVcAg quantification. Our findings demonstrated a strong positive correlation between HCV RNA and HCVcAg across all HCV genotypes (1a, 1b, 3a, and 6), with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.88 to 0.96 (p < 0.001). However, in some cases, samples with genotypes 3a and 6 exhibited lower HCVcAg levels than expected based on the corresponding HCV RNA values. Upon the core amino acid sequence alignment, it was observed that samples exhibiting low core antigen levels had an amino acid substitution at position 49, where threonine was replaced by either alanine or valine. Core mutation at this position may correlate with one of the epitope regions recognized by anti-HCV monoclonal antibodies. The present findings suggest that the utilization of HCVcAg as a standalone marker for HCV RNA might not provide adequate sensitivity for the detection of HCV infection, especially in cases where there are variations in the amino acid sequence of the core region and a low viral load of HCV RNA. ? 2023 Hansoongnern et al.
License
CC BY
Rights
Authors
Publication Source
WOS